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.

The Director-General of the APC campaign, *Oluwole Oke*, stated this in an interview with _Arise News_ on Monday while explaining why the party had yet to congratulate Adeleke on his re-election.

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

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

“And like I’ve told you, what we are doing, even for the records and for the future, 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 said.

INEC had declared Adeleke of the *Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)* winner of the election after he polled *511,067 votes* to defeat the APC candidate, *Bola Oyebamiji*, who scored *444,815 votes*. The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, *Najeem Salaam*, finished third with *17,180 votes*.

The results showed Adeleke winning in 19 local government areas, while Oyebamiji won in 11 councils. The margin of victory was *66,252 votes*.

Although *President Bola Tinubu* congratulated Adeleke after the declaration, Oke said the APC campaign team’s position remained different as it focuses on examining events surrounding the election.

He said the party had directed its agents across the state to submit relevant 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,” Oke said.

The APC campaign chief added that the review would cover the conduct of the election and issues arising before the poll, including compliance with the Electoral Act.

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

According to the APC, the electoral process extends beyond the announcement of results and may continue through the election tribunal, the Court of Appeal and the 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,” Oke said.

The party urged supporters and members of the public to allow it to complete its assessment before announcing its next move.