The All Progressives Congress (APC) has withdrawn its petition challenging the re-election of Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, less than 24 hours after the case details were displayed at the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Osogbo.
The withdrawal adds another dramatic twist to the legal and political developments surrounding the August 15 governorship election, after the APC and its candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, had earlier indicated that they would not challenge the result.
The petition, numbered EPT/OS/GOV/01/2026, was among two petitions displayed by the tribunal on Monday.
It listed Oyebamiji and the APC as petitioners, while Adeleke, the Accord party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were named as respondents.
However, on Tuesday, the lawyer who filed the petition, Oluseyi Oyagbile, confirmed that he had withdrawn the case following fresh instructions from his client and APC leaders.
“My client and leaders of APC reached out to me this morning to withdraw the petition I filed on their behalf, I have withdrawn the petition,” Oyagbile told The Nation in a telephone conversation.
He explained that he requested written confirmation of the instruction before withdrawing the case, apparently to avoid another controversy over who authorised the action.
“Before I do so, I made them send WhatsApp messages to me giving the instruction so that it will not be a matter of controversy again,” he said.
The withdrawal followed an extraordinary dispute over the petition’s authorisation.
Before the latest development, the APC legal team had publicly disowned the case, maintaining that neither the party nor Oyebamiji authorised any challenge to Adeleke’s victory.
The party’s legal team, led by Senior Advocates of Nigeria Abiodun Layonu, Yomi Aliyu, Adekunle Adegoke and Muritala Abdulrasheed, had said the APC decided against challenging the election after consultations with Oyebamiji and other party leaders.
Adegoke, speaking on behalf of the lawyers, said the decision was partly motivated by the desire to de-escalate tensions in the state and allow peace to prevail.
The position was at odds with the actions of Oyagbile, who signed and submitted the petition at the tribunal alongside the APC’s deputy governorship candidate, Kayode Adereti.
Oyagbile had previously insisted that the petition was validly authorised.
He maintained that Adereti signed the document in the presence of party leaders and executives and that the case had been properly filed.
The petition’s appearance on the tribunal’s official display on Monday had therefore suggested that the APC had formally initiated a legal challenge within the 21-day period prescribed for filing an election petition.
That position has now been reversed following the withdrawal.
The controversy comes against the backdrop of Oyebamiji’s earlier concession of defeat and congratulatory message to Adeleke after the election. The APC candidate had initially accepted the outcome before a petition was subsequently filed in his name and that of the party.
INEC declared Adeleke the winner of the August 15 governorship election with 511,067 votes, ahead of Oyebamiji, who secured 444,815 votes.
With the APC petition withdrawn, the separate petition filed in the name of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) remains as a legal challenge to Adeleke’s re-election.
That case has, however, also become embroiled in an authorisation dispute, with the PDP candidate, Adebayo Adedamola, reportedly questioning whether he authorised the petition filed in his name.
The developments have consequently left the post-election litigation in Osun surrounded by questions over the authority behind the petitions filed before the tribunal.
