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Osun Poll Won't Decide Accord Party Leadership, Imumolen Insists
🇳🇬 Nigeria /Elections & Politics

Osun Poll Won't Decide Accord Party Leadership, Imumolen Insists

From Vanguard · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources In the courts
  • Accord Party National Chairman Prof. Chris Imumolen insists the Osun State governorship election will not decide the party's national leadership.
  • He stated the leadership dispute is a separate legal matter already before the courts, predating Governor Ademola Adeleke's entry into the party.
  • Imumolen emphasized that a national party's leadership cannot be determined by a single state's election outcome and pledged to abide by the court's decision.

Professor Chris Imumolen, the embattled National Chairman of the Accord Party, has asserted that the outcome of the Osun State governorship election will not settle the ongoing national leadership crisis within the party. Imumolen stressed that the dispute is a distinct legal matter currently before the courts, predating Governor Ademola Adeleke's affiliation with Accord and the Osun election itself.

Nobody should interfere with the internal leadership crisis of Accord. This is a matter before the courts, and we shall pursue it to its logical and lawful conclusion.

— Prof. Chris ImumolenStating that the party's leadership dispute is a legal matter to be resolved in court.

Speaking in Abuja, Imumolen explained that the legal battle commenced in 2024 when he and other claimants filed a suit against Barr. Maxwell Mgbudem and others at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory. He cited an interim order issued on August 29, 2024, which recognized him as National Chairman pending the substantive suit's determination and restrained defendants from acting as the National Executive Committee or conducting congresses.

The Osun election is an election. The Accord leadership dispute is a national party and legal matter. They are two different issues.

— Prof. Chris ImumolenDistinguishing the Osun election from the party's internal leadership conflict.

Imumolen highlighted that efforts to reconcile the rival factions, including an intervention by former Osun governor Chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola, failed to yield a settlement. The disagreement eventually manifested in the Osun governorship contest, with opposing factions conducting simultaneous primaries and nominating different candidates. He reiterated that the Osun election is a separate issue from the national party and legal matter concerning leadership.

The election cannot extinguish the case. The case does not depend on the election.

— Prof. Chris ImumolenEmphasizing that the court case is independent of the election outcome.

Regarding the 2027 presidential election, Imumolen stated that Accord has withdrawn from the presidential race and will support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's re-election. He clarified that this political decision does not conflict with the party's internal legal battle over leadership, asserting that one does not negate the other. Imumolen urged Accord members and stakeholders to remain calm and await the judicial resolution.

Our presidential position is a political decision. The Accord leadership dispute is a legal and internal party matter. One does not cancel the other.

— Prof. Chris ImumolenExplaining the separation between the party's political stance and its internal legal dispute.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Vanguard in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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