APC lawyers reject petition against Adeleke's win

The legal team for the All Progressives Congress in Osun State has rejected a petition filed by some individuals challenging the victory of Governor Ademola Adeleke in the August 15 governorship election.

In a phone interview with PUNCH Online on Monday, Adekunle Adegoke (SAN), a leader of the legal team, stated that no petition was submitted on behalf of the APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, or the party before the tribunal.

Adegoke mentioned that the legal team met with Oyebamiji and other party leaders soon after the election results were announced to decide on their next steps. He noted that they chose not to challenge the election results after discussing the situation.

He added that the choice not to go to the tribunal was made to reduce tension and promote peace in the state.

"From the second day of the election, our legal team, which includes about four Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Dr Biodun Layoonu (SAN), Dr Yomi Aliyu (SAN), myself, Kunle Adegoke (SAN), and Dr Muritala Abdulrasheed (SAN), met to advise our client. We also have other legal experts like Prof Mojeed Alabi in our team, and we agreed that the best course of action was not to challenge the results in court," Adegoke said.

He went on to say that the team has been active for over seven years. They know where to look for issues during elections. Adegoke stressed that they wanted to show the public that the APC is not just a party that causes trouble.

"We have no personal issues with Nurudeen Adeleke, the governor, or anyone from other parties like the PDP or Accord. We are guided by principles, and when we decide to fight for something, it is based on those principles," he said.

Adegoke explained that they took their time to make this decision and wanted to help their client understand their reasons. "We shared our findings with our client. The election may not have been completely free, but there were still grounds to contest the results. We decided it was best to let the people have some peace," he noted.

He mentioned that their client agreed, saying if it takes another four years to sort things out for the people of Osun, they would accept that.

"This is why we waited a bit after the election result was announced on August 16 before our client congratulated Governor Nurudeen Ademola Adeleke," Adegoke added.

He continued, “After congratulating Governor Adeleke voluntarily and without any pressure, do you think it would be right for Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji to secretly allow a petition to be filed? Such a petition lacks substance. No good petition would come from an experienced election lawyer without proper context. I want it on record that the APC legal team has rejected the papers submitted by some individuals pretending to be APC lawyers. It was not authorized by the APC or its candidate.”

Earlier, PUNCH Online learned that both the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party filed petitions challenging the August 15 election results.