Osun 2026: APC Campaign DG Says Party Won’t Rush To Congratulate Adeleke

The All Progressives Congress has formally rejected the Independent National Electoral Commission’s declaration of Governor Ademola Adeleke as winner of the Osun State governorship election, setting up a potential legal contest over a poll the ruling Accord Party had claimed with a comfortable margin.

The Director-General of the APC governorship campaign in Osun State, Oluwole Oke, said the party would not be pressured into congratulating Adeleke, insisting the APC believed its candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, had scored the highest number of valid votes. Speaking on Arise News on Monday, Oke said the party’s position differed from that of President Bola Tinubu, who had already congratulated Adeleke shortly after INEC’s declaration.

“We do not agree with the declaration of INEC. That’s our position for now. We believe he did not score the highest valid votes,” Oke said, adding that the campaign team, unlike the presidency, had been “on the ground” through the process and wanted a full review before taking a position.

INEC’s Returning Officer, Professor Joshua Ogunwale, declared Adeleke winner in the early hours of Sunday, August 17, 2026, after collation concluded following Saturday’s poll. According to the commission’s figures, Adeleke polled 511,067 votes against Oyebamiji’s 444,815, a winning margin of 66,252 votes. Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress finished a distant third with 17,180 votes, while the remaining twelve candidates on the ballot shared a small fraction of the vote. Adeleke won 19 of the state’s 30 local government areas, while Oyebamiji carried 11, including Irewole, where he defeated Adeleke by nearly three to one.

The victory extends Adeleke’s tenure after he first won the Osun governorship in 2022 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, defeating the then incumbent, Gboyega Oyetola of the APC. He later defected to the Accord Party ahead of this year’s contest, making the 2026 race his first outing under a new political platform.

Oke said the APC had commenced a review of the electoral process and directed its agents across the state to submit copies of Forms EC8A, EC8B and EC8C, the statutory result sheets used at polling unit, ward and local government collation levels, to the party secretariat for inspection. “We have embarked on an audit process. We need to inspect the materials,” he said, adding that the party would also examine issues from the pre-election period against the provisions of the Electoral Act before forming a final position.

He said the APC’s review would not be rushed and drew a distinction between the party’s own assessment and the president’s earlier congratulatory message, noting that an election in Nigeria “is a process that continues through the tribunal, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court.” The party said it would consult its lawyers and explore all available legal options if irregularities were established.

Oke also used the interview to criticise the Adeleke administration’s record in education, healthcare and support for farmers, saying the party’s broader assessment of the state’s governance record would factor into its next steps. He urged the public to allow the APC time to complete its audit before announcing a formal course of action.

Should the APC proceed to the Election Petition Tribunal, it would be following a route the party itself successfully used against Adeleke in 2022, when Oyetola’s petition led to a tribunal ruling in the APC’s favour before the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court ultimately restored Adeleke as governor. That precedent means the current dispute, if it proceeds to litigation, would likely follow a similarly lengthy judicial path rather than an immediate resolution.

Adeleke, following his declaration, said he expected Oyebamiji to reach out and congratulate him, describing it as “the civilised thing to do.” The APC’s Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi, said separately that the party was still studying results from all 332 wards in the state before making its findings public.