Adeleke Jettisons Accord Party National Assembly Seats

A fierce crisis has erupted within the Osun State chapter of the Accord Party following the appointment of Governor Ademola Adeleke as the State Coordinator for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council.

In a sharply worded statement released in Osogbo on Wednesday, a factional leader of the Accord Party, Yusuf Adegboye, launched a scathing attack on Governor Adeleke, accusing him of systemic political sabotage and questioning the moral and tactical sense of leading a rival party’s campaign while his own party fields candidates on the same ballot.

Adegboye argued that Governor Adeleke’s acceptance of the top campaign role within the ruling APC serves as final confirmation that the governor joined the Accord Party solely to dismantle it from within—a strategy he alleged Adeleke previously executed against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“This questionable appointment has fully vindicated our long-standing warnings to party faithful: Governor Adeleke did not join the Accord Party to build it, but to act as a Trojan horse and destroy it from within, exactly as he did during his tenure in the PDP,” Adegboye stated.

“How can a sitting governor, elected under the platform of the Accord Party, openly accept to coordinate a presidential campaign for the APC—a rival political party—when our own party has its own presidential banner and legislative candidates running in the exact same election on the exact same day?”

The core of the dispute centers on the dual roles Governor Adeleke will be forced to play on the campaign trail. With national legislative elections (Senate and House of Representatives) holding concurrently alongside the presidential election, Adegboye pointed out the bizarre political gymnastics required of the governor.

“Picture the absurdity on the campaign trail,” Adegboye challenged. “How does the Governor mount a public stage alongside APC Senatorial and House of Representatives candidates, urge the crowd to vote for the APC presidential candidate, and then, in the very same breath, ask that same audience to turn around and vote against those APC legislative candidates in favor of the Accord Party’s candidates?”

“Is it not completely safe to conclude that the Governor has silently conceded all Osun National Assembly seats to the APC? By campaigning on the APC stage for the presidential ticket, he is effectively abandoning Accord Party candidates and handing victory to the opposition.”

Governor Adeleke’s appointment into the APC Presidential Campaign Council reflects an unprecedented cross-party alignment, which supporters framed as a strategic alliance to secure federal backing for Osun State’s developmental projects. However, inside the Accord Party, the move has laid bare deep-seated ideological fractures and fueled accusations of outright betrayal.

As opposition mount within Adegboye’s faction, grassroots party members are demanding immediate clarification on whether the Accord Party intends to maintain an independent identity or fully subsume its structures into the APC campaign machinery.