Adeleke wins Osun. But what next for Accord?

The Accord Party has emerged from the Osun governorship election with a political victory that could either strengthen its relevance ahead of the 2027 general elections or expose the internal weaknesses threatening its future.

The state governor, Ademola Adeleke’s decisive victory in Saturday’s election has given the party control of Osun State for another term.

However, while the result represents a major electoral gain for Accord, the party’s leadership crisis may be far from over.

Mr Adeleke’s victory appeared to settle the most important question before the election: who would govern Osun for the next four years?

Now, another question is emerging: What happens to Accord, the party that gave Mr Adeleke the platform on which he secured his re-election?

The question is significant because, days before the election, Christopher Imumolen, who leads a faction of Accord, announced that he was withdrawing the party’s support for Mr Adeleke and endorsing the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Oyebamiji.

The declaration was made at the APC campaign rally in Osogbo and appeared to suggest that Mr Adeleke had lost the support of the party on whose platform he was seeking re-election.

However, the announcement was immediately rejected by another faction of Accord led by Maxwell Mgbudem, who maintained that Mr Adeleke remained the party’s candidate.

Mr Mgbudem insisted that Mr Imumolen was no longer authorised to speak for the party. The party subsequently dismissed Mr Imumolen’s intervention as having no electoral value.

Operationally and for electoral purposes, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the mainstream National Working Committee (NWC) have recognised the Maxwell Mgbudem-led structure, which backs Mr Adeleke’s candidacy.

Mr Adeleke subsequently won the election with 511,067 votes, defeating Mr Oyebamiji of the APC, who polled 444,815 votes. The victory secured Mr Adeleke a second term in office.

Rather than bringing the Accord leadership dispute to an end, the election has been followed by a renewed declaration from Mr Imumolen that the battle will continue in court.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Friday, 21 August, Mr Imumolen said the outcome of the Osun governorship election could not determine who leads Accord at the national level.

He said the leadership dispute was a separate national and legal matter that predates Mr Adeleke’s entry into the party and would be pursued “to its logical and lawful conclusion” through the courts.

“The Osun election is an election. The Accord leadership dispute is a national party and legal matter. They are two different issues,” Mr Imumolen said.

He warned against attempts to use the election result, political pressure, media statements or unilateral declarations to settle the leadership dispute.

According to him, the conclusion of the Osun election had not altered the legal proceedings over the party’s leadership, insisting that his faction would continue to pursue the matter until the courts determine the legitimate leadership of Accord.

The dispute predates Adeleke

The leadership crisis within Accord did not begin with the Osun governorship election. The dispute between the factions led by Mr Imumolen and Mr Mgbudem dates back to controversies surrounding the party’s 2024 national convention and subsequent leadership arrangements.

The disagreement later moved into the courts, with the rival camps laying claim to the party’s leadership.

In August 2024, an Abuja High Court ordered INEC to recognise Mr Imumolen as Accord’s National Chairman pending the determination of a substantive suit.

Months later, the Mgbudem-led National Executive Committee announced the expulsion of Mr Imumolen and several other members, citing alleged anti-party activities, gross misconduct and breaches of the party’s constitution.

Mr Imumolen’s supporters rejected the expulsion, arguing that the leadership dispute was already before the courts and that the decision did not resolve the underlying disagreement.

The dispute subsequently spilled into preparations for the Osun governorship election, with competing factions challenging the authority of the Mgbudem-led leadership and seeking to influence the party’s primary and candidate selection.

It was against this backdrop that the disagreement over Accord’s support for Mr Adeleke emerged.

Despite the competing claims, INEC and the Accord Party’s mainstream National Working Committee recognised the Maxwell Mgbudem-led structure as the party’s legitimate leadership. It was this structure that backed Mr Adeleke’s candidacy and operated the party’s machinery for the Osun governorship election.

Mr Adeleke has now won. That victory has changed the political calculation.

The candidate won. But which Accord?

For Adeleke, the result could hardly have been better.

He not only retained the Osun governorship, he did so after moving away from the PDP and choosing a party that has historically had a much smaller political footprint.

His victory has, therefore, given him something more valuable than another term in office.

It has given him political leverage.

Mr Adeleke can now point to the result and say that whatever happened inside Accord before the election, the voters chose him. But that may not be enough to end the battle within the party.

Mr Imumolen’s camp has continued to insist that the leadership dispute in Accord remains unresolved and has suggested that Mr Adeleke could still face legal challenges arising from the controversy.

PREMIUM TIMES made attempts to get Mr Mgbudem’s reaction to the continued leadership dispute and the suggestion that Mr Adeleke could face legal challenges, but he did not respond to requests for comment as of the of filing this report.

Mr Imumolen has now gone further, arguing that Mr Adeleke’s entry into Accord did not resolve the leadership crisis and, in his assessment, actually deepened the divisions within the party.

At Friday’s press conference, he said the governor’s defection to Accord “caused more harm than good,” arguing that Mr Adeleke should have first sought to understand and reconcile the competing leadership structures before aligning himself with one side of the dispute.

Mr Imumolen said efforts had been made to engage Mr Adeleke and find an internal political solution to the crisis before and after the governor joined Accord, but those efforts did not produce the desired outcome.

That is where the story becomes complicated.

A party leadership dispute is one thing when it is happening before an election. It becomes something else entirely when the candidate backed by one faction wins a governorship election.

The irony is that Mr Adeleke’s victory may actually make the Accord crisis more difficult to resolve.

The faction that backed Mr Adeleke can point to the result as evidence of the political strength of its position.

The opposing faction, meanwhile, can argue that its leadership claim remains a matter for the courts and that means Accord now has something worth fighting over.

The party therefore faces a choice: settle the dispute politically or allow the courts to determine which faction controls its machinery. Either route carries consequences.

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A prolonged legal battle could weaken the party’s ability to prepare for 2027. A political settlement, on the other hand, could require concessions between rival camps whose differences have already become public.

Where caution is necessary

The existence of a leadership dispute does not automatically invalidate Mr Adeleke’s election.

Anyone seeking to overturn his victory would have to establish a recognised legal basis for doing so under Nigeria’s electoral laws.

What remains unsettled is not who won the Osun governorship election, but who has the legal authority to speak and act for Accord at the national level.

Mr Imumolen says that question remains before the courts and will continue despite the Osun result.

The courts would ultimately have to determine the significance of the Accord leadership dispute and whether it has any bearing on Mr Adeleke’s nomination or election.

Until that happens, Mr Adeleke remains the elected governor.