By Yinka Giwa
The faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by former Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Turaki (SAN), has directed its members and supporters in Osun State to vote for Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party in Saturday’s governorship election, despite securing a Court of Appeal judgment affirming the nomination of its own governorship candidate, Adebayo Olugbenga Adedamola.
The decision, announced barely 72 hours before the election, effectively sidelines Adedamola, whose name had only just been restored to the ballot by the appellate court after months of legal battles with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Adedamola is also remembered for his controversial involvement in the investigation into the December 2001 assassination of former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige. Although he was arraigned alongside several others on charges of conspiracy and murder, he was discharged and acquitted in 2004 after an Ibadan High Court ruled that prosecutors failed to establish a prima facie case against the accused persons.
In a statement signed by the Interim National Publicity Secretary of the Turaki-led PDP, Comrade Ini Ememobong, the party said the Court of Appeal in Abuja had upheld Adedamola’s nomination and ordered INEC to immediately include the PDP logo on the ballot for the August 15 governorship election.
According to the statement, the appellate court held that the PDP had validly conducted governorship primaries monitored by INEC and had duly forwarded the name of its candidate to the electoral commission, ruling that the issue of access codes for uploading candidates to the commission’s portal was merely an administrative procedure that could not override statutory compliance.
The faction claimed the judgement vindicated its longstanding allegation that INEC had acted with bias against what it described as the legitimate leadership of the PDP by refusing to recognise its candidate despite monitoring the primary election.
It accused the electoral commission of deliberately withholding the nomination access codes and acting in a manner designed to weaken opposition parties ahead of the poll.
Despite celebrating the legal victory, however, the Turaki-led PDP acknowledged that the judgement came too late for Adedamola to mount any meaningful statewide campaign before Saturday’s election.
It consequently announced what it described as a “consequential decision” to throw its weight behind incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke, who is contesting the election on the platform of the Accord Party after leaving the PDP amid the party’s prolonged leadership crisis.
The statement said the Interim National Working Committee took the decision after extensive consultations with stakeholders, arguing that supporting Adeleke was necessary to protect multi-party democracy and prevent what it described as attempts by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to benefit from the PDP’s internal disputes.
The faction therefore urged all PDP members across Osun State to vote for Adeleke, defend their votes and ensure that every valid ballot counted.
It also accused the APC of pursuing a “do-or-die” approach to elections and called on Nigerians to resist any attempt to undermine the democratic process.
However, the legal and political significance of the Court of Appeal judgment was immediately questioned by former member of the House of Representatives and journalist, Timothy Golu.
Responding to celebrations by supporters of the Turaki faction, Golu argued that Turaki had no legal connection with the nomination process that produced the Osun governorship candidate.
According to him, the nomination papers submitted to INEC were signed by the PDP’s Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, and National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, long before the emergence of the Turaki-led leadership.
He maintained that the conventions from which Turaki and his executives emerged had not taken place at the time the nomination documents were submitted and predicted that further litigation over the judgment was likely.
Meanwhile, Adedamola’s emergence has revived public interest in his role during the investigation into the assassination of former Justice Minister Bola Ige.
In January 2002, prominent lawyer and human rights activist Festus Keyamo publicly presented Adedamola as a man who allegedly possessed inside information on the murder.
At the time, Keyamo alleged that Adedamola had sworn an affidavit claiming that he knew those responsible for Ige’s assassination and that former Osun Deputy Governor Iyiola Omisore had allegedly offered him N5 million to kill the late minister—an offer he claimed to have rejected.
Keyamo had told journalists that Adedamola possessed detailed information about those behind the killing and that evidence would be released in stages.
However, Adedamola later retracted those allegations, claiming that he had been pressured into making the statements.
He admitted participating in an incident in Ile-Ife during which Bola Ige was publicly humiliated by youths who removed the elder statesman’s traditional cap, an act widely regarded in Yoruba culture as deeply insulting.
Adedamola, however, insisted that although he took part in that episode because of prevailing political tensions, he had no knowledge of the subsequent assassination.
He was later charged together with several other suspects over the murder.
On October 16, 2004, an Ibadan High Court presided over by Justice Atilade Ojo discharged and acquitted Adedamola and the remaining defendants after ruling that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges of conspiracy and murder brought against them.
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