2027: Accord Party factions clash over parallel governorship candidates in Oyo

A fresh crisis has engulfed the Accord Party following the emergence of parallel candidates ahead of the 2027 Oyo State governorship election, further exposing the deep divisions within the opposition party.

The latest controversy comes barely 24 hours after the party announced popular Ibadan-based broadcaster, Oriyomi Hamzat, as its governorship candidate for the 2027 election.

However, another faction of the party subsequently declared Olakunle Busari as the winner of a parallel governorship primary, triggering confusion over the party’s authentic candidate.

The development has now prompted the factional National Chairman of the Accord Party, Chris Imumolen, to nullify the entire exercise, insisting that neither Mr Hamzat nor Mr Busari is the valid governorship candidate of the party.

The Accord Party has been battling an internal leadership crisis, which has split the party into two rival factions.

One faction is led by Mr Imumolen, who claims to be the authentic national chairman, while the opposing camp is loyal to Maxwell Mgbudem and the National Secretary Adebukola Ajaja which is recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), backed by recent court rulings and controls the party’s recognised National Working Committee (NWC).

The prolonged leadership tussle has continued to generate disputes over the control and legitimacy of the party’s structures nationwide.

In a statement on Wednesday, Muktar Abdallah, the national secretary of the Imumolen faction, described the Oyo governorship primary conducted by the rival camp as “shameful and controversial.”

According to the statement, the emergence of two separate candidates from the same exercise exposed what it described as “confusion, greed, money politics and lack of leadership capacity within the Maxwell–Ajaja led faction.

“Chris Imumolen, National Chairman of Accord, has officially nullified the shameful and controversial governorship primaries conducted in Oyo State, insisting that neither Oriyomi Hamzat nor Olakunle ‘Gudugudu’ Busari is the valid gubernatorial candidate of the Accord Party,” the statement read.

The faction accused the Maxwell–Ajaja leadership of allegedly pursuing personal interests and financial gains at the expense of the party’s integrity.

It argued that the inability of the rival camp to produce a single candidate from the exercise had subjected the party to public embarrassment and ridicule.

“The emergence of two different candidates from the same faction is a clear indication of the confusion, greed, money politics and lack of leadership capacity within the Maxwell–Ajaja led faction of Accord,” the statement added.

Mr Imumolen’s faction further maintained that the incident had reinforced concerns among party loyalists regarding the legitimacy and capacity of the rival leadership to manage the affairs of a national political party.

As part of measures to address the crisis, the faction disclosed that a disciplinary committee had been constituted to investigate the conduct of Maxwell Mgbudem and Joseph Ajaja over actions allegedly capable of bringing the party into disrepute.

“The disgraceful drama witnessed in Oyo State will not go unchecked, as the party under the authentic national leadership has already constituted a disciplinary committee to thoroughly investigate the actions of Maxwell and Ajaja, whose conduct has brought embarrassment and dishonour to the Accord Party nationwide,” it read.

The faction also announced plans to organise a fresh governorship primary election “to produce the rightful candidate that will genuinely represent the interests of Accord members and the people of Oyo State.”

According to the statement, the new exercise would be transparent, credible and inclusive, with the aim of producing a candidate acceptable to party members across the state.

The controversy followed the governorship primary conducted by the party on Tuesday, after which the National Deputy Secretary of the party, Abdulraman Muhammed, announced Mr Hamzat as the party’s governorship candidate in a video shared on X.

The declaration, however, did not disclose the total votes scored by aspirants who participated in the exercise.

Shortly after the announcement, another group within the party rejected Mr Hamzat’s emergence and declared Mr Busari winner of a separate parallel primary election.

The faction claimed that Mr Busari polled 29,427 votes to defeat Mr Hamzat, who reportedly secured 18,716 votes.