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The Director-General of the All Progressives Congress governorship campaign in Osun State, Oluwole Oke, has stated that the party refuses to be rushed into extending congratulations to Governor Ademola Adeleke regarding his success in the August 15 governorship election.
Oke made this disclosure during a Monday interview on Arise News, noting that the APC is presently reviewing the electoral tallies and will decide its next course of action after analyzing the official data.
He explained that President Bola Tinubu’s stance—who congratulated Adeleke immediately after the Independent National Electoral Commission announced the outcome—differs from the perspective of the campaign organization, which operated directly “on the ground” to evaluate the exercise.
“And like I’ve told you that what we are doing, even for 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 said.
He added, “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.”
INEC named Adeleke, contesting under the Accord Party, as the election victor after gathering 511,067 votes to outperform APC candidate Bola Oyebamiji, who secured 444,815 votes, while ADC candidate Najeem Salaam trailed in third with 17,180 votes.
Adeleke secured victories across 19 local government areas, whereas Oyebamiji claimed 11, handing the incumbent a winning lead of 66,252 votes.
Subsequent to the declaration, Adeleke mentioned he anticipated Oyebamiji to place a congratulatory call, labeling it the “civilised thing to do.”
Nevertheless, Oke maintained that the APC campaign structure remains focused on executing a thorough inspection of the voting procedures before making any formal moves.
“When you have a project of this nature with the outcome announced by INEC, we will not be in a haste, nor shall we be under pressure without doing the needful,” he stated.
According to him, the party has initiated a comprehensive audit of the poll and instructed party agents to present appropriate result sheets for examination.
“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 remarked.
Simultaneously, the party’s Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi, noted that the APC is actively analyzing outcomes originating from all 332 wards.
The party emphasized that an election is “a process that continues through the tribunal, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court,” pointing out that it will confer with legal counsel and pursue all available legal remedies under the Electoral Act should infractions emerge.
Oke stated the party will equally scrutinize developments stemming from the pre-election phase and how the poll was handled in relation to the Electoral Act alongside other applicable laws.
“Until we do that and form our opinion, we won’t be able to go further to say anything on this,” he said.
Furthermore, the APC campaign DG condemned the Adeleke administration, challenging its performance regarding education, healthcare, and assistance provided to local farmers.
He said, “When you look at this in totality, you can see the failures of government glaring in the citizens’ faces.”
Oke requested the public to allow the party space to finalize its assessment of the electoral process before revealing its upcoming decisions.
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