A queer twist has slipped into the Osun State chapter of the Accord Party and its dream of capturing power in Osun State in the Southwest geopolitical zone of Nigeria via the ballot leveraging the defection of Governor Ademola Adeleke to the party recently and his subsequent emergence as the party governorship candidate ahead of the August 8, 2026 governorship election.
The twist popped up as faction of the Accord Party in the state on Sunday reportedly held a primary election that produced Bamigbola Clement as its candidate for the August 8, 2026, governorship poll.
The exercise, held in Osogbo, the state capital, with the accredited delegates casting their votes.
Bamigbola, the only aspirant presented to the delegates, emerged as the governorship candidate but the Independent National Electoral Commission in Osun State was not informed of the separate primary reportedly conducted by a faction of the party.
The Daily Crucible reports that Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, last Wednesday, emerged as the Accord Party candidate for the August 2026 poll.
Adeleke was the sole aspirant in that primary, also held in Osogbo.
Declaring the result, Abdulazeez Salaudeen, Secretary of the electoral committee that conducted the primary, said Adeleke polled 145 votes out of 150 delegates drawn from the state’s 30 local government areas. Five votes were voided
“The electoral committee has delivered on its mandate. After voting and counting witnessed by the agents of the candidate and the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, having the highest number of votes, I declare Senator Nurudeen Ademola Adeleke as the winner of the primary,” Salaudeen said.
However, the caretaker Chairman of Accord Party in Osun State, Babalola Akande, said he was not aware of the primary that produced Bamigbola as a governorship flag bearer, stressing that those who organised the exercise are not recognised by the party.
Akande told newsmen in Osogbo on Sunday that Adeleke remains the duly nominated and lawful governorship candidate of the Accord Party in the state.
He said, “This position is incontestable, irreversible, and firmly grounded in law, having emerged through due process in accordance with the Constitution of the Accord, the Electoral Act 2022, and established judicial precedents,” he said.
He urged Osun residents to ignore the “distractions, which are the handiwork of politically displaced actors who, having been repeatedly rejected by the electorate, now resort to impersonation, falsehood, and institutional sabotage in a futile bid to return to power through the back door.
“We are hearing that the person being used for this purpose is a legal practitioner. That, to us, will make our job easy, as our party will stop at nothing but to report him to the appropriate authorities, including the LPDC.
“We therefore make bold to state that any institution or authority that accords recognition, protection, or legitimacy to such impostors or their activities does so at its own legal peril, as the Accord will promptly and decisively invoke necessary judicial intervention to protect its constitutional rights, internal democracy, and the sanctity of the ballot.
“For the final time, and for the sake of emphasis, by virtue of the valid primary election lawfully conducted on Wednesday, 10th December 2025, Governor Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke is the sole and legally recognised governorship candidate of the Accord in Osun State. No parallel structure, no impersonator, and no contrived spectacle can alter this legal reality.”
But The Daily Crucible reports that earlier, leaders of the Southwest zone of the ACCORD party had also raised the alarm over alleged plot by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to instigate crisis of confusion and division in the Osun State chapter of the ACCORD by sponsoring illegal primary election, vowing that every underhand tactics of the APC in Osun will fail.
The zonal ACCORD leaders accused the APC of scheming to plunge Osun into unrest with the planned move to conduct an illegal primary election in the name of ACCORD on Monday, December 15, 2025, ostensibly to produce a parallel Governorship candidate to the incumbent Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, who is already the party’s flag bearer for the August 8, 2026 governorship election in the state.
In a statement by Hon. Oke Rotimi Michael, State Chairman, ACCORD, Ogun State who also doubles as the Spokesman, Forum of South West ACCORD Chairmen, the leaders noted that, the APC has resorted to underhand tactics by sponsoring one of its own card-carrying members, Mr. Segun Alex Ayodele Fanibe, to create a false impression of an ACCORD aspirant.
According to the statement made available to The Daily Crucible on Sunday, the planned illegal primary election is driven with the sole intention of instigating internal crisis within ACCORD and causing a breach of the peace of Osun State.
“For the avoidance of doubt and to put all speculations to rest, verifiable records clearly establish that Mr. Fanibe has no affiliation whatsoever with the ACCORD both at the Unit, Ward, Local Government, State and National level.
But in a twist crept in when a faction of the Accord Party reportedly conducted a primary election where Bamigbola Clement emerged as its candidate for the August 8, 2026, governorship poll.
At the end of the exercise, held in Osogbo, the state capital, on Sunday with the delegates accredited, Bamigbola Clement was declared winner and announced as the governorship candidate of the party for next year’s election in the state.
Bamigbola confirmed the primary and his emergence as the party flag bearer.
It was not yet clear as of Sunday night if the alleged planned primary of the same Accord Party scheduled for Monday, December 15 in Osogbo would hold.
APC is said to be behind the alleged planned illegal primary on Monday, and is allegedly sponsoring Fanibe, its card – carrying member to emerge as Accord Party factional governorship candidate, according to the South West zone of the Accord Party.
In a statement, it said :”As it stands, it is now glaring that All Progressives Congress (APC) is settled to foment trouble, disunity, confusion, and possibly unrest in Osun State, through their plan to conduct an illegal and a parallel primary election fraudulently paraded in the name of ACCORD on Monday, 15th December 2025. This unfolding scheme is yet another desperate act by the APC. What is the problem with APC? If the party is going down the drain, as a result of their past antecedents, why don’t they go down all alone? Why try to pull other political parties down along with them like they did in PDP, LP, and trying to do in ADC and ACCORD?
“Truly, APC is evidently unsettled by the growing wave of acceptance, goodwill, and mass support currently enjoyed by the incumbent Governor of Osun State, and also the Gubernatorial Candidate of ACCORD, in the forthcoming governorship election of Osun State, come August, 2026, H.E, Governor Ademola Adeleke, following his open declaration of affiliation with the ACCORD.
“Since the APC cannot match his political momentum, popularity, and organic support across the entirety of all the Local Governments in Osun State, the APC resorts to underhand tactics: sponsoring one of its own card-carrying members, Mr. Segun Alex Ayodele Fanibe, to create a false impression of an ACCORD aspirant. This is with the sole intention of instigating internal crisis within ACCORD and causing a breach of the peace of Osun State.
“For the avoidance of doubt and to put all speculations to rest, verifiable records clearly establish that Mr. Fanibe has no affiliation whatsoever with the ACCORD both at the Unit, Ward, Local Government, State and National level. More damning is the incontrovertible fact that he actively participated in the recently concluded APC governorship primary election, that elected AMBO, as their candidate. This single act alone renders any claim of membership or aspiration under ACCORD of any moral consequence. He is a liar, political jobber, a shameless man, a man of no integrity, and that lives on the livelihood of falsehood.
“This reckless and provocative attempt to attack ACCORD as a political party of peace shall not stand — politics impersonation, falsehood, and calculated provocation, can’t work again, the people are more wiser, than they are thinking. For just like any house that is built on a false foundation collapses, so shall their plans be destroyed. We remain confident that as always, God will continue to expose them.
“Osun State has chosen the path of peace, performance, and purposeful leadership, and that is, H.E Gov. Ademola Adeleke. No act of political mischief can overturn the collective will of the people. Therefore, we urge the good people of Osun State to remain vigilant and discerning and not fall prey to the antics of political comedians who have clearly lost touch with the will and aspirations of the people.”
