The All Progressives Congress (APC), Osun State chapter has formally withdrawn a petition it filed seeking to challenge the victory of Governor Ademola Adeleke in the August 15, Governorship election in the State.

This is coming in less than 24 hours after some chieftains of the party’s legal team denounced the suit.

The petition, which was filed at the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Osogbo, was accordingly withdrawn on Tuesday, September 8, 2026 by the legal counsel, Oluseyi Oyagbile, who filed it.

Oyagbile said that he withdrew the petition following fresh instructions from the leaders of the APC and his client to do so, adding that the instruction to withdraw the petition was in writing.

Oyagbile said; “My client and leaders of APC reached out to me this morning to withdraw the petition I filed on their behalf. I have therefore withdrawn the petition.

“I received the withdrawal directive in writing through WhatsApp to avoid further disagreement over who authorised the legal action”.

This was as Publicity Secretary of the APC in Osun State, Kola Olabisi confirmed that the petition had been withdrawn, adding however, that he was not part of the party’s legal team.

The suit with number EPT/OS/GOV/01/2026 was displayed on the Governorship Election Tribunal’s notice board on Monday and named the APC governorship candidate Bola Oyebamiji and the party as petitioners, with Governor Adeleke, Accord Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as respondents.

The petition’s brief existence exposed disagreements within the APC over whether the legal challenge was approved by the party and its candidate.

On Monday, Adekunle Adegoke, SAN, a member of the APC’s legal team, said the lawyers had neither authorised nor endorsed any petition against Adeleke’s victory.

Adegoke specifically said that the legal team comprising Abiodun Layoonu, Yomi Aliyu, himself and Muritala Abdulrasheed, all Senior Advocates of Nigeria, had advised Oyebamiji against challenging the election at the tribunal.

Adegoke further said that the advice was given shortly after the August 15, election following the team’s assessment of the circumstances surrounding the poll.

He said; “The best in this circumstance is for us not to go to the tribunal”.

Adegoke therefore disowned the petition displayed at the tribunal, describing it as a document filed by people presenting themselves and claiming to be representatives of the APC legal team without authorisation.

He further said; “I want to be on record that the APC legal team has denounced the bundle of papers filed by some individuals masquerading as APC lawyers. It was not authorised by APC as a party or its candidate”.

Similarly, the Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the August 15, governorship election, rejected a separate legal challenge purportedly filed in his name, stressing that he did not authorize any petition challenging the victory of Governor Adeleke.

Governor Adeleke won the August 15, 2026 election with 511,067 votes to secure another term as governor of Osun State.