The Nyesom Wike led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has congratulated Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State over his resounding victory in Saturday’s gubernatorial election contested by 15 candidates representing various political parties
The party, in a statement, signed by Jungudo Mohammed the National Publicity Secretary NPS, said it acknowledges the significance of this victory and the ‘confidence reposed in him by the good people of Osun State.’
Recall that Governor Adeleke who was in 2022 elected on the platform of the PDP, had left the party and defected to Accord Party to pursue his ambitions, following its unresolved internal crisis.
The party noted that ‘ While Governor Adeleke has chosen to pursue his political journey under the platform of the Accord Party, the PDP remains proud of its contributions to the democratic development of Osun State’
The PDP prayed that’this victory mark the beginning of an even greater chapter of progress, unity, and prosperity for the people of Osun State’
The PDP, while wishing Governor Adeleke success as he continues to serve the people of Osun State, urged all political actors to place the interests, peace, and progress of the state and the nation above partisan considerations.
Although Wike group did not field any candidate in the election, the group loyal to Tanimu Turaki however secured a last minute Court of Appeal in Abuja, just three days to the election on Wednesday that cleared its candidate, Adebayo Adedamola, to contest governorship election as candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, for Osun State.
But the Turaki group, while reacting to the judgement, said it would prefer to back Adeleke, as time was too short to embark on electioneering campaigns
The Abuja Court of Appeal ruling, had directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately include the party’s logo on the ballot for the Saturday August 15, 2026, election.
The panel of the Court held that the party having duly conducted primaries which were monitored by INEC, and the name of the winner forwarded to the commission, there was no legal impediment to the participation of the candidate in the elections.
Ini Ememobong, the National Publicity Secretary of the Turaki’s Interim National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, said the judgement ‘ specifically, held that the access code for nomination on the portal was a mere administrative formality which cannot override the statutory provision of forwarding names to the commission, which PDP had done’
‘This judgment confirms the persistent bias and unceasing opposition by INEC against the legitimate leadership of our party, in favour of pretenders who are working for the ruling party.
‘The primaries that produced our candidate was peaceful, transparent, and the result uncontested. It was duly monitored by INEC, but the Commission blatantly refused to recognise our candidate thereafter and withheld the codes for the upload of candidates from us.’ he stated
He stated that the ‘party approached the court and today the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal by the Turaki-led PDP and directed INEC to include the party’s logo on the ballot papers for the elections.
‘Though justice has finally been done, in this case the grant of justice is akin to a denial as there is no opportunity for our candidate to undertake campaigns in preparation for the elections.
According to him, ‘This ugly situation would have been avoided had INEC chosen to act responsibly and not in the very partisan way that it did and continues to do. We reiterate our position that INEC is not a neutral umpire, but more of an interested party with the goal of achieving an uncontested or weakly contested elections by the opposition parties, in favour of the ruling party.
‘To this end, faced with the unimaginable difficulty that this situation puts on us, the Interim National Working Committee has chosen not to throw its hands up in defeat, which would only align with APC’s wicked playbook’
‘ As a true opposition party and in defence of multi-party democracy, and after exhaustive consultations with key stakeholders, the Committee has decided to support the candidature of Governor Ademola Adeleke of Accord Party for Saturday’s governorship elections.
He noted that Governor Adeleke ‘left because of the state-engineered and funded leadership conflict in our party.’