Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faction backed by Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, has disowned a petition challenging the re-election of Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke.
Gatekeepers News reports that the petition, marked EPT/OS/GOV/02/2026, was reportedly filed in the name of Adebayo Adedamola, the PDP governorship candidate of the Kabiru Turaki faction, against Adeleke, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Accord Party. It was displayed at the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Osogbo on Monday.
However, Adedamola subsequently distanced himself from the petition, saying he did not instruct or retain any lawyer to challenge the outcome of the August 15 governorship election.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Jungudo Mohammed, national publicity secretary of the Wike-backed PDP, said the party neither instituted, sponsored, approved nor endorsed the petition.
Mohammed said the party’s National Legal Adviser, A.K. Ajibade, SAN, who has the constitutional authority to institute legal proceedings on behalf of the PDP, did not authorise anyone to file the case.
The PDP challenged Ochai Jacob Otokpa, the lawyer purportedly responsible for filing the petition, to produce the authority or mandate under which he acted in the party’s name.
The party said its legal department had commenced steps to formally withdraw its name from the proceedings and urged the tribunal, INEC, Adeleke, the Accord Party and security agencies to disregard the petition.
The PDP also called for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the filing of the petition and appropriate sanctions against anyone found to have used the party’s name and legal identity without authorisation.
The development comes after the August 15, 2026 Osun governorship election, in which INEC declared Adeleke the winner with 511,067 votes, ahead of APC candidate Bola Oyebamiji, who polled 444,815 votes.
