Factional National Chairman and former presidential candidate under the Accord Party, Professor Christopher Imumolen, has declared “illegal” the nomination of Governor Ademola Adeleke as the party’s Osun State candidate for the 2027 gubernatorial elections.
He affirmed that the party’s legitimate governorship candidate in Osun State is Clement Kolawole.
Speaking on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, The Morning Brief, on Monday, Imumolen stated that under his leadership as National Chairman, the Accord Party conducted a valid primary election that produced Kolawole as its official flagbearer.
He emphasised that any attempt to link Governor Adeleke to the party was based on an unrecognised and illegal process.
According to Imumolen, Adeleke was nominated through a faction that does not hold control of the party.
“He had emerged through a process that we know is not a recognised or legal process. The faction that claims to have brought him into the party is not the faction in charge of the party as it is today,” he said.
Imumolen explained that when the party learned that Governor Adeleke was considering joining Accord, efforts were made to brief him on the internal challenges within the party.
He noted, however, that these efforts were unsuccessful before Adeleke proceeded to conduct primaries with what he described as the Maxwell faction.
“To save the party and to make sure that Accord fields a candidate that does not have a challenge after winning a candidate that can maintain his position and his seat without any legal challenges, we had to stand up to the occasion by conducting a primary and producing Clement Kolawole for the Osun people and for the party,” he added.
The former presidential candidate also provided context on the leadership crisis within the party, stating that the Accord Party held its national convention in July last year, where he contested for the position of National Chairman against a rival from the Maxwell faction.
He claimed to have won the election convincingly with over 500 delegates and was officially declared the winner.
However, he said members of the opposing faction, who lost the convention but remained part of the party’s caretaker committee, continued to assert control of the party.
Imumolen said this prompted him to approach the court—not because of uncertainty over his position, but to prevent the party from being perceived as unserious by the Nigerian public.
“At that time, we had two factions, and I did not want Nigerians to see the Accord Party as an unserious party. So quietly, we went to court for clarity,” he explained.
He added that the court eventually directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise him as the National Chairman of the Accord Party, stressing that the legal action was solely to establish clarity and legitimacy within the party’s leadership structure.
Imumolen maintained that with the court’s ruling and the conduct of a valid primary, Clement Kolawole remains the Accord Party’s lawful governorship candidate in Osun State.