Osun APC rejects Adeleke’s victory, begins audit of election results

The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship campaign in Osun State has rejected the outcome of the August 15 governorship election, insisting that Governor Ademola Adeleke did not secure the highest number of valid votes cast.

The Director-General of the APC governorship campaign, Oluwole Oke, disclosed this during an interview with Arise News on Monday, explaining why the party had yet to congratulate Adeleke on his re-election.

Oke said the APC disagreed with the declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and had commenced a review of election materials before deciding on its next course of action.

“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,” he said.

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According to him, the APC campaign organisation would not be pressured into accepting the election outcome until it had completed a thorough assessment of the process.

“And like I’ve told you, what we are doing, even for the future, for records, is to conduct a thorough review of the entire process and then form our opinion.

“We won’t be under any sort of pressure to easily reach out to congratulate Senator Ademola Adeleke,” Oke added.

INEC had declared Adeleke, the Accord candidate, winner of the election after he polled 511,067 votes to defeat the APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, who secured 444,815 votes.

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Najeem Salaam, finished third with 17,180 votes.

The declared result showed Adeleke winning in 19 local government areas, while Oyebamiji secured victory in 11 councils, giving the incumbent a margin of 66,252 votes.

Although President Bola Ahmed Tinubu congratulated Adeleke following the declaration, Oke said the position of the APC campaign team remained unchanged as it focused on examining the events surrounding the election.

He said the party had already commenced an audit of the poll and directed its agents across the state to submit relevant election documents for scrutiny.

“We have embarked on an audit process. We have asked all our party agents to submit copies of Forms EC8A, B, and C to our secretariat for review. We need to inspect the materials,” he said.

The APC campaign chief said the review would cover the conduct of the election as well as issues arising before the poll, including compliance with the Electoral Act and other applicable laws.

He further indicated that the party could explore legal options if its findings revealed grounds for further action.

Oke said the electoral process did not necessarily end with the declaration of results, noting that disputes could proceed through the election tribunal, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court where necessary.

“Until we do that and form our opinion, we won’t be able to go further to say anything on this,” he said.

The APC campaign organisation urged its supporters and members of the public to allow it to complete its assessment of the election before announcing its next course of action.