Factional primary produces Clement Bamigbola days after Adeleke’s emergence
Dispute deepens over legitimacy of party leadership ahead of 2026 poll
A fresh leadership crisis has hit the Accord Party in Osun State following the emergence of another governorship candidate ahead of the 2026 election.
A faction of the party on Sunday conducted a separate primary election, which produced Mr Clement Bamigbola as its governorship candidate.
This development came barely four days after Governor Ademola Adeleke was announced as the party’s flagbearer in a different primary organised by another faction of the party.
DAILY POST reports that earlier in the week, a primary election led by Barrister Maxwell Mgbudem produced Adeleke, who recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the Accord Party’s candidate for the 2026 governorship election.
However, the process was immediately rejected by a rival group within the party, which argued that Mgbudem is not the legally recognised national chairman of the Accord Party.
In the latest move, about 300 delegates drawn from different parts of Osun State converged on Regina Suite in Osogbo on Sunday to conduct what they described as a valid primary election.
The delegates, through a voice vote, elected Bamigbola as their preferred candidate. He was subsequently declared the party’s governorship candidate by the Chairman of the Primary Committee, Hon. Olufemi Ogundare.
The parallel primaries have further exposed deep divisions within the Accord Party, raising fresh questions over which candidate will eventually be recognised ahead of the 2026 Osun governorship election.
