The Nyesom Wike-backed Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected a governorship election petition purportedly filed in its name at the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, saying the party neither authorised nor endorsed the legal action.
The party said Election Petition No. EPT/OS/GOV/02/2026, which seeks to challenge the outcome of the August 15, 2026 Osun governorship election, was filed without its knowledge or approval.
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Jungudo Mohammed, said the party’s National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade, SAN, who is empowered under the PDP Constitution to institute legal proceedings on behalf of the party, did not authorise any lawyer or individual to commence the case.
The controversy followed the display of two election petitions at the tribunal’s secretariat in Osogbo on Monday. Notices signed by the Tribunal Secretary, Belemo Diete-Spiff, showed that the first petition, EPT/Os/Gov/01/2026, was filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its Osun governorship candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, against Governor Ademola Adeleke, the Accord Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The second petition, EPT/Os/Gov/02/2026, listed the PDP as the petitioner, with INEC, the Accord Party and Adeleke named as respondents. Reports at the time indicated that the petition was filed in connection with the August 15 election.
However, the PDP has now distanced itself from the second petition, insisting that it does not represent the party’s position.
Mohammed stated, “We have called this briefing to address reports concerning Election Petition No. EPT/OS/GOV/02/2026, purportedly filed in the name of the Peoples Democratic Party before the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Oshogbo. We are here to tell you that the PDP did not authorise this petition. It is not our case.
“The Party neither instituted, sponsored, approved, nor endorsed the petition challenging the outcome of the 15 August 2026 Osun State Governorship Election. Under Article 42 of the PDP Constitution, the authority to institute and conduct legal proceedings on behalf of the Party is vested in the National Legal Adviser, and the National Legal Adviser of the PDP, A.K. Ajibade, SAN, did not authorise or issue any instruction to any individual or lawyer to file this petition on behalf of the PDP.
We are aware that one Ochai Jacob Otokpa, Esq., is the lawyer purportedly responsible for filing the petition in the name of the Party. We therefore challenge him to produce the authority, instruction, or mandate upon which he relied in assuming the locus to institute proceedings in the name of the Peoples Democratic Party.
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“Who instructed him? Who authorised him? And by what authority did he purport to act in the name of the PDP? These are legitimate questions to which the Party and the Nigerian public deserve clear answers.”
The party subsequently reiterated that EPT/OS/GOV/02/2026 was neither instituted nor approved by its leadership and therefore should not be regarded as an official PDP challenge to the election result.
Mohammed also disclosed that Adebayo Adedamola, popularly known as “Fryo”, who was purportedly presented as the PDP candidate in the election, had separately denied authorising the petition.
He continued, “It is equally instructive to inform the general public that even Mr. Adebayo Adedamola, popularly known as “Fryo,” who was purportedly presented as the PDP candidate in the 2026 Osun State Governorship Election, has publicly distanced himself from the purported petition.
“While speaking on TVC News on 7 September 2026, Mr. Adedamola stated that he did not instruct or retain any lawyer to institute a petition challenging the outcome of the election. The question further remains: on whose instructions was the petition filed?
“While the Legal Department of the PDP is taking immediate steps to formally withdraw the Party’s name from the purported proceedings, we wish to make it abundantly clear that the PDP does not recognise Election Petition No. EPT/OS/GOV/02/2026 as a proceeding instituted by or on behalf of the Party.
“We therefore call on the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, INEC, the Accord Party, His Excellency, Governor Ademola Adeleke, security agencies, the media, and the general public to take note of the Party’s position and disregard the purported petition and its contents and any representation or claim that the said petition is an official PDP action.”
The development came a day after counsel to the APC and Oyebamiji, Seyi Oyagbile, filed a motion dated September 8 seeking to withdraw the petition filed on behalf of the APC and its candidate. The motion was submitted at the tribunal’s office within the premises of the Osun State High Court in Osogbo.
The PDP has now called for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the preparation and filing of the petition, while seeking sanctions against anyone found to have impersonated the party or used its name and legal identity without authorisation.
The party warned that it would not permit individuals acting without its mandate to use its name, constitutional authority or institutional identity, maintaining that such conduct would not be tolerated.