The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the 2026 Osun State election, Adebayo Olugbenga Adedamola, popularly known as Fryo, has denied filing a petition challenging Governor Ademola Adeleke’s victory at the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
Adedamola, whose name appears as the petitioner in a PDP petition currently before the tribunal, said he neither filed the petition nor authorised his lawyers to do so.
Speaking as a guest on TVC News, Adedamola described the petition as strange, insisting that he was unaware of its existence and had not instructed any lawyer to challenge the outcome of the August 15 governorship election.
“There is no petition filed by me or my counsel. I don’t know where they manufactured the petition they submitted at the tribunal,” Adedamola said.
He added: “In fact, I voted for Governor Adeleke on Election Day.”
The development has thrown the PDP’s legal challenge to Adeleke’s re-election into fresh controversy, coming after the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal displayed petitions challenging the outcome of the election.
According to reports, the PDP petition, marked EPT/OS/GOV/02/2026, lists Adebayo Olugbenga Adedamola as the petitioner against Adeleke, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Accord Party.
Adedamola’s denial now raises questions over who authorised the filing of the petition and under whose instructions lawyers presented it before the tribunal.
The controversy is particularly significant because Adedamola was the PDP governorship candidate produced by the faction of the party that conducted its primary in December 2025.
He emerged from the primary with 919 votes out of 957 votes cast by delegates, following Governor Adeleke’s departure from the PDP and subsequent move to the Accord Party ahead of the election.
However, Adedamola was not ultimately listed among the candidates on the final ballot for the August 15, 2026 governorship election, according to reports on the election.
Despite this, a petition bearing his name has now surfaced before the tribunal challenging the election that returned Adeleke to office.
Adedamola is, however, publicly distancing himself from the case.
