Wike-backed PDP Speaks on Petition Against Adeleke’s Re-election 

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faction backed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has disowned a petition filed in its name challenging the re-election of Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State.

Politics Nigeria reports that the party, through its National Publicity Secretary, Jungudo Haruna Mohammed, said it neither authorised nor endorsed Election Petition No. EPT/OS/GOV/02/2026 before the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Osogbo.

The development came days after the tribunal displayed petitions purportedly filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the PDP challenging the outcome of the August 15 governorship election.

Speaking at a press briefing at Wadata Plaza in Abuja on Wednesday, Mohammed described the petition bearing the PDP’s name as unauthorised, insisting that it did not represent the position of the party.

“We are here to tell you that the PDP did not authorise this petition. It is not our case,” he said.

According to him, the PDP neither instituted, sponsored, approved nor endorsed any legal action challenging Adeleke’s victory in the election.

Mohammed cited Article 42 of the PDP Constitution, which he said vests the authority to institute and conduct legal proceedings on behalf of the party in the National Legal Adviser.

He stated that the party’s National Legal Adviser, A.K. Ajibade, SAN, did not authorise or instruct any individual or lawyer to file the petition.

The PDP spokesman specifically named Ochai Jacob Otokpa, Esq., as the lawyer purportedly responsible for filing the petition and challenged him to produce evidence of the authority under which he acted in the party’s name.

“Who instructed him? Who authorised him? And by what authority did he purport to act in the name of the PDP?” Mohammed asked.

He said the party had consequently dissociated itself completely from the petition and would not recognise it as a proceeding instituted on its behalf.

The PDP further noted that Adebayo Adedamola, popularly known as “Fryo,” who was presented as the party’s candidate in the governorship election, had also distanced himself from the case.

Mohammed said Adedamola stated during an interview with TVC News on September 7 that he neither instructed nor retained any lawyer to challenge the election outcome.

The party therefore questioned the identity of the individual or group behind the petition and said its legal department had commenced steps to formally withdraw the PDP’s name from the proceedings.

It urged the election tribunal, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Accord Party, Governor Adeleke, security agencies and the public to disregard the petition and any claim that it constituted an official PDP action.

The party also called for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the preparation and filing of the petition, urging appropriate action against anyone found to have unlawfully used its name, identity or legal personality.

The controversy follows the display of two separate petitions at the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal secretariat in Osogbo on Monday, with the APC and PDP listed as petitioners.

The tribunal’s Secretary, Pefe Belemore, had confirmed that petitions challenging the August 15 election had been filed.

However, the APC subsequently withdrew its petition on Tuesday. Adeleke, who contested the election under the Accord Party, was declared the winner of the poll.