Oyebamiji’s Running Mate Signed Petition Challenging Adeleke’s Victory At Tribunal, Says Counsel

The legal battle over the re-election of Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, took a fresh twist on Monday as a counsel to the All Progressives Congress (APC) insisted that the party’s election petition challenging the governor’s victory was duly authorised and personally signed by the party’s deputy governorship candidate, Kayode Adereti.

The development came amid a controversy over the authenticity of the petition, after another senior lawyer, Dr. Abiodun Layonu, SAN, claimed that the APC and its governorship candidate, Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, did not authorise the filing of the petition.

Oyebamiji and the APC are challenging the re-election of Governor Adeleke, the Accord Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in a suit marked EPT/OS/GOV/01/2026.

The petition was filed through a legal team led by Barrister Oluseyi Oyagbile.

However, Layonu, in a statement purportedly issued on behalf of the APC legal team, had distanced the party and its candidate from the petition.

He said, “Our clients and the entire legal team were shocked to read the purported petition, as neither the candidate nor the party authorised the filing of same.

“We hereby denounce in absolute terms the purported petition filed in the name of APC and its gubernatorial candidate.

“We urge our members and the general public to discontenance the purported petition as same did not emanate from the legal team.”

But Oyagbile, whose team filed the petition before the tribunal, rejected the claim and maintained that the petition was properly initiated.

Speaking with our correspondent on Monday night, Oyagbile said the petition was signed by Adereti, the deputy governorship candidate who contested the election alongside Oyebamiji.

According to him, “If you visit the Tribunal and you examine the petition, you will discover that it was signed by the deputy governorship candidate of the party, Kayode Adereti.

“I don’t know about the lawyers you are talking about and I don’t know the circumstances in which they were briefed or not briefed.”

The lawyer further explained that he accepted the brief on the understanding that Adereti had the locus to initiate the legal action, having contested the election on the same ticket with Oyebamiji.

He said, “I filed the petition based on the understanding that the Deputy Governorship Candidate of the party has the locus to file an election petition, considering the fact that he is on a joint ticket with the candidate.

“He could have been seconded to go and sign it. So, considering the fact that somebody with locus briefed me to represent him in a case, I don’t see any reason why I should start consulting other lawyers.

“The man has a right to hire any lawyer that pleases him.”

Oyagbile said there was nothing irregular about the petition, stressing that Adereti personally appeared and signed the document.

He added, “Somebody tells me to file the case, I file the case, he appeared personally to sign it, I don’t see any problem with that.

“If the party decided that they don’t want to be a part of the case or they want it to be withdrawn, that is not a problem. That is something else entirely.”

The counsel also questioned the claim that a particular group of lawyers must be consulted before an election petition could be filed on behalf of a candidate or political party.

He said, “For lawyers to say they didn’t call us, I don’t understand that kind of practice.

“First of all, I don’t know anything about any APC legal team and secondly, I don’t know of any law that says it is a particular lawyer that must be called for a particular case.

“Anybody can hire any lawyer for any case. So, if they say they are not aware of it, then I don’t know, maybe they have a right to say that. But, I don’t know what says they must be aware of it.”

The conflicting positions have now introduced a fresh legal dimension to the post-election dispute in Osun State, with questions likely to centre on who authorised the petition and whether the person who signed and instructed counsel had the requisite legal standing to do so.

The tribunal is expected to determine the issues arising from the petition as the legal battle over the August 15, 2026 governorship election gets underway.