PDP Denies Filing Election Petition Against Adeleke, Threatens Disciplinary Action

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has denied any involvement in an election petition filed under its name, which seeks to contest Governor Ademola Adeleke's re-election in the August 15 Osun governorship poll.

Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja, the party's National Publicity Secretary, Mr Jungudo Mohammed, said the PDP neither authorised, sponsored nor approved petition number EPT/OS/GOV/02/2026, which is currently before the Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Osogbo.

According to Mohammed, only the PDP's National Legal Adviser holds the constitutional mandate to institute legal proceedings on the party's behalf or delegate such authority, and no such approval was granted for this particular suit. "We are here to tell you that the PDP did not authorise this petition and it is not our case. The party did not institute, sponsor, approve, nor endorse the petition challenging the outcome of the Aug. 15 Osun governorship election," he said.

Mohammed disclosed that the party had already published disclaimer advertisements regarding the matter in major national newspapers. He identified a legal practitioner, Ochai Jacob Otokpa, Esq., as the individual purportedly responsible for filing the petition in the party's name, and challenged him to produce any written instruction, authority or mandate empowering him to act on the PDP's behalf.

"We, therefore, challenge him to produce the authority, instruction, or mandate upon which he relied in assuming the locus to institute proceedings in the name of the Peoples Democratic Party," Mohammed said. "Who instructed him? Who authorised him? By what authority did he purport to act in the name of the PDP? These are legitimate questions to which the party and the Nigerian public deserve clear answers."

The party spokesperson noted that the PDP's candidate in the election had already appeared on a television programme on September 7 to publicly disown the petition, stating that he had never engaged any legal practitioner to challenge the outcome of the poll. Mohammed further revealed that the party's legal department was taking immediate steps to formally withdraw the unauthorised suit from the tribunal in Osogbo.

He called on security agencies and relevant authorities to investigate the circumstances surrounding the filing of the petition and to take appropriate action against those responsible. He also urged the Election Petition Tribunal, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Accord Party, Governor Adeleke, and members of the public to disregard the petition entirely.

Warning against the unauthorised use of the PDP's name for personal gain, Mohammed declared that the party would no longer tolerate actions aimed at tarnishing its image, and threatened disciplinary action against anyone involved, regardless of their standing within the party.

"The PDP is a creation of the law, and we have taken it upon ourselves that those days are gone when we tolerated such flagrant attitudes that tend to ridicule the party," he said. "We have decided to use the sledgehammer to deal with any individual, no matter how highly placed, whenever we find out that statements, positions are taken on behalf of the party without the due authority of the legitimate leadership of the party."