Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, on Monday dismissed a Federal High Court judgement ordering the deregistration of the Accord and other four opposition political parties, insisting that the ruling would not affect his participation in the 15 August off-cycle governorship election in the state.
The court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister five political parties; Accord Party (AP), African Democratic Congress, Action Alliance (AA), Action Peoples Party (APP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), over their failure to meet constitutional performance thresholds required for continued registration.
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Mr Adeleke, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the Accord last year to seek second term in office, described the judgement as an abuse of court process and a threat to the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral system.
Speaking during a press briefing in Osogbo, the state capital, the governor said the Federal High Court lacked the authority to proceed with the matter as the Court of Appeal had already intervened and adjourned proceedings to October.
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“On the deregistration of some political parties, the action of the Federal High Court is clearly an affront on the Court of Appeal, an abuse of court process and an open threat against the integrity of the electoral process,” Mr Adeleke said.
“Our lawyers have taken necessary steps to right the wrong. It is on record that the Court of Appeal had stayed proceedings on the matter till October. We are therefore surprised that the lower court proceeded to act on a matter already acted upon by the higher court.”
The governor reassured his supporters that the Accord would remain in existence pending legal challenges to the judgement and maintained that he would contest the forthcoming governorship election on the party’s platform.
“I call on Osun people to remain calm. The judgment cannot stay; Accord will be on the ballot; we will be on the ballot; and we will win resoundingly on August 15,” he said.
The judgement has generated uncertainty around the political future of affected parties, particularly the Accord, which Mr Adeleke adopted after leaving the PDP amid prolonged internal disputes over the party’s administration and leadership structure in Osun State.
Adeleke cites fresh court victory in local govt disputes
Mr Adeleke welcomed a judgement in a separate case before the Federal High Court in Osogbo dismissing an application seeking tenure elongation for local government chairmen elected under the administration of former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola.
The governor argued that the ruling reinforced previous judicial decisions declaring tenure extension for elected local government officials unconstitutional.
According to him, the judgement confirmed that the tenure of the affected chairmen expired in October 2025 and that they no longer possess any legal authority to occupy local government secretariats across the state.
“The dismissal of the elongation request conforms with the stipulations of the constitution. The judgment further validates the precedent set by the Supreme Court ruling that tenure elongation is unconstitutional,” he said.
Based on the ruling, Mr Adeleke called on the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, to direct the Osun State Commissioner of Police to withdraw security protection allegedly being provided to the affected council officials.
He also accused the police command of supporting what he described as the illegal occupation of council secretariats by the chairmen.
The governor further called on the United Bank for Africa (UBA) to stop recognising the affected officials as signatories to local government accounts and demanded that local government funds be made available to legally recognised officials.
READ ALSO: UPDATED: Court orders deregistration of ADC, Accord, three other parties
“We demand that all law enforcement agents should support the immediate restoration of the duly elected local government chairmen. This is the path of law and the constitution,” he said.
Mr Adeleke urged residents to remain peaceful and focused on the forthcoming governorship election, insisting that neither the legal challenges facing his party nor the local government dispute would derail his re-election campaign.
“Our people are reassured that efforts by Osun APC to stop our re-election have failed. Our flag-off rally is holding tomorrow. We will not be distracted. We remain focused on winning,” he said.
