By Luminous Jannamike
Embattled National Chairman of the Accord Party, Prof. Chris Imumolen, has insisted that the outcome of the Osun State governorship election will not determine who leads the party nationally, saying the leadership crisis is a separate legal matter already before the courts.
Speaking in Abuja on Friday, Imumolen said the dispute predates Governor Ademola Adeleke’s entry into Accord and the Osun election, stressing that the leadership of a national political party cannot be determined by the outcome of a poll in one state.
Imumolen said the legal battle dates back to 2024, when he and other claimants sued Barr. Maxwell Mgbudem and others at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. He said an interim/ex-parte order issued on August 29, 2024, in Suit No. FCT/HC/M/11850/2024, directed INEC to recognise him as National Chairman pending the determination of the substantive suit.
He said the order also restrained the defendants from parading themselves as Accord’s National Executive Committee and from conducting state and local government congresses pending the determination of the case.
“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,” Imumolen said.
He said the dispute was already before the courts when Adeleke joined the party, adding that efforts to reconcile the rival camps, including an intervention involving former Osun governor, Chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola, failed to produce a settlement.
The disagreement eventually spilled into the Osun governorship contest, with the rival structures conducting simultaneous primaries and producing different candidates.
Imumolen also said his disagreements with elements of the opposing faction predated the Osun crisis, citing issues surrounding the management of resources during his 2023 presidential campaign.
“The Osun election is an election. The Accord leadership dispute is a national party and legal matter. They are two different issues,” he said.
Maintaining that the courts remained the proper forum for resolving the competing claims, Imumolen said the matter could not be settled through political pressure, media campaigns or the result of an election.
“The election cannot extinguish the case. The case does not depend on the election,” he said.
He pledged to pursue the case through the courts until a final determination, while promising to abide by the eventual judicial decision.
On the 2027 presidential election, Imumolen said Accord had stepped down from the presidential race and would continue to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election, insisting that the position did not conflict with the party’s internal legal battle.
“Our presidential position is a political decision. The Accord leadership dispute is a legal and internal party matter. One does not cancel the other,” he said.
Imumolen appealed to Accord members and stakeholders to remain calm and law-abiding, urging them to allow the courts to determine the national leadership question.
“The election will come and go. The national leadership question remains,” he said.
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