Governor Ademola Adeleke will not face an election tribunal challenge over his victory in the August 15 Osun governorship election after the legal deadline for filing petitions expired without any of his opponents challenging the result.

The 21-day period provided for candidates and political parties to contest the outcome of the election ended on Saturday, leaving Adeleke’s victory intact at the tribunal level.

Adeleke, who contested the election under the Accord Party, was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after recording 511,067 votes.

The APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, finished second with 444,815 votes, while candidates of the other parties also failed to approach the tribunal before the deadline.

Fifteen political parties participated in the election, but none of the defeated candidates filed a petition against the result within the period allowed by law.

The election petition tribunal had commenced operations shortly after the poll at the premises of the Osun State High Court in Oke Fia, Osogbo, in preparation for possible legal challenges.

However, when the tribunal registry was visited on Saturday, the final day for filing petitions, the office was open but no petition had been submitted.

A staff member at the registry confirmed that the tribunal had not received any petition challenging the election.

The decision by the opposition candidates not to challenge the result has been attributed by some political actors to their assessment of the conduct of the election and, in the case of the APC, a decision to prioritise peace.

A member of the APC legal team, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly, disclosed that the party had considered the possibility of challenging Adeleke’s victory.

He insisted that the absence of a petition should not be interpreted as meaning that the APC had no grounds to question the election.

“Not that we don’t have grounds to challenge Adeleke’s election. There are good grounds to challenge the outcome of the poll. But the party hierarchy and the legal team, after deliberations, resolved not to file any petition,” he said.

He explained that the party ultimately decided that pursuing the matter in court could create further tension.

“Power belongs to God, and He gives whoever He wants. We decided not to file any petition in the interest of peace,” he said.

Attempts to obtain the official position of the Osun APC were unsuccessful. Calls to the party’s spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, were not answered, while a WhatsApp message sent to him seeking clarification had not received a response as of Sunday.

For the Osun Accord leadership, the decision by the defeated candidates to accept the outcome represents a positive development for democracy.

The party’s chairman, Victor Akande, said opposition candidates had shown maturity by choosing not to challenge the result.

“We appreciate the maturity of the candidates of the opposition for not challenging the outcome of the poll,” Akande said.

He argued that elections could strengthen democracy when contestants accepted the result instead of automatically turning to litigation after every poll.

“That itself is good for democracy, if an election stops at the poll. The idea of going to court to regain a mandate is sometimes not good for democracy,” he said.

The SDP governorship candidate, Olugbenga Ajala, also said his decision not to file a petition was based on his assessment that the election process was sufficiently fair.

According to Ajala, there was no justification for challenging a process that he believed had produced the candidate who deserved to win.

The election came, and it’s gone. Fair enough; we have to be content with the outcome of the poll because we believe the best candidate won, and we also believe that the president is fair enough,” he said.

Ajala said he would have gone to the tribunal if he believed the election had been seriously compromised.

“If the election has not been fair enough, we would have headed for the tribunal, but we give thanks to God that the process can be seen by all to be very fair. That is why no party or candidate is coming forward with any petition,” he said.

It can be recalled that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, recently revealed that he contacted Adeleke after the election to remind him of his commitment to support President Bola Tinubu.

Wike said Adeleke had moved from the Peoples Democratic Party to the Accord Party because of the crisis within the PDP and needed the new platform to secure a ticket for the governorship election.

He said he was outside the country when the election was held but was interested in whether Adeleke would maintain his earlier commitment to support Tinubu if he won.

“My concern was, if Adeleke had won, would you still support Mr President? And I called him because that was my only interest,” Wike said.

According to the minister, he asked Adeleke directly whether he intended to keep his commitment.

“I said, ‘Listen, you have told me you will support Mr President. Are you going to keep to it?’ He said he was going to keep to it. I wished him good luck. I didn’t need to go to Osun,” Wike recounted.

Wike said he later encouraged the governor to publicly restate his support for Tinubu and present his certificate of return to the President.

“I told Adeleke when you have your certificate of return, go and present it to Mr President. I don’t need to call Mr President. I don’t need to tell anybody. It is my job,” he said.

The minister said the move was intended to prevent politicians from positioning themselves around Adeleke for political advantage.

“Why was that strategy? To knock off these people who are going to position themselves, coming to curry favour,” Wike said.

He further claimed that Adeleke’s declaration of support for Tinubu affected the political calculations surrounding the election.

“When Adeleke issued that statement, ADC withdrew,” Wike said.

Wike also explained that his involvement was not about supporting the APC against Adeleke, saying he would only have intervened if the Federal Government itself had been involved in a dispute with the Osun governor.

“If the Federal Government was fighting Adeleke, there was no way I wouldn’t be involved. But if APC is fighting Adeleke, I’m not a member of APC,” he said.