Adeleke’s Romance With APC Puts Accord Assembly Candidates At Risk

Adeleke’s Romance With APC Puts Accord Assembly Candidates At Risk

As Party Members Question Governor’s Moral Ground To Enforce Loyalty

Alliance Will Secure Justice, Benefits – Group

The inclusion and acceptance of Governor Ademola Adeleke as Osun State Coordinator of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Committee is threatening the electoral fortunes of some of the Accord Party’s National and State Assembly candidates in the 2027 general elections as gathered by our correspondent

It was gathered that some Accord members are working against some of their party candidates at the legislative level, citing underperformance and imposition.

Recall that Governor Adeleke, who won the August 15, 2026 governorship election on the platform of the Accord Party after his defection from the Peoples’ Democratic Party, was last Wednesday named as Osun Coordinator for the Tinubu/Shettima campaign council.

The development comes months after the Accord Party in Osun and the Governor himself cried out over alleged anti-party activities by some members accused of working for candidates of other parties in the forthcoming legislative elections.

At a closed-door stakeholders’ meeting presided over by the Governor in Osogbo, the party had lamented that some members were backing candidates of the PDP, Allied Peoples Movement, Action Peoples Party and the APC.

“Under no circumstances should any Accord member be caught sponsoring or working for legislative candidates of other political parties. Such behaviour will not be tolerated,” the party resolved at the meeting, according to a statement by the Governor’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed.

Governor Adeleke, at that meeting, had warned of severe sanctions, saying, “We must avoid anti-party activities. Severe sanctions await any party member who works against the candidates of the party.”

But that moral ground, according to several Accord members who spoke to Newsmen, has now collapsed with his romance with the APC, and some of the legislative candidates may be the worst hit.

The Accord members said there were some members of the National and State Assemblies who have done little to nothing since they were elected into office during the 2023 general election but were issued a return ticket, noting that they might work against those candidates.

A chieftain of the Accord Party in Ikirun, Ifelodun Local Government, Alhaji Kehinde Ademola, while speaking with OSUN DEFENDER, said the governor can no longer dictate who members should support for Senate, House of Representatives and House of Assembly, especially where the candidates who are incumbents, are underperforming.

“As much as the Governor can accept to work for President Bola Tinubu, who is the APC presidential candidate, we can also decide to vote against the underperforming lawmakers who are flying the Accord ticket. What is good for the goose is good for the gander,” Ademola said.

Sharing the same sentiment, a member of the party in Osogbo, Olatunde Azeez, said he might also vote against some Accord legislative candidates in the general election.

“If the Governor can work for APC presidential candidate, then we are also free to work for other parties’ legislative candidates. I will vote for candidates that are more popular and will perform well in my constituency. We cannot be forced to support those who have failed us,” he said.

Mrs. Folashade Omoniyi, who described herself as a loyalist of the Governor, said she feels betrayed by the alliance with APC.

She recalled incidents that occurred before the August governorship election, including the killing of several Accord supporters allegedly by suspected APC hoodlums.

“Our people were killed in Ilesa, Osogbo, Ede, Esa Oke, Ikire. We buried our members. Some were shot, some were macheted by people we believed were APC thugs. The Governor himself cried then and promised their blood would not be in vain. How can he now team up with the same party that allegedly killed his supporters? We are disappointed,” she said.

A youth leader of the party who does not want his name in print for fear of intimidation corroborated Omoniyi, saying several Accord supporters were killed in the build-up to the governorship election.

“We mobilised under fear. We lost a lot of our members. Their families are still mourning. And now we are told our leader is the Coordinator of APC campaign. It is difficult to explain to the grassroots,” he said.

Some members said although the Governor had, during the electioneering period, said he endorsed President Tinubu’s re-election, they did not expect him to dance on the graves of his supporters.

They expressed anger over his appearance in Abuja during the inauguration of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, where he was seen dancing joyfully.

“Yes, during the campaign he told us he was endorsing Tinubu for second term. We accepted that as political strategy. But what we saw in Abuja was different. He was dancing joyfully on the stage as if nothing happened in the past, as if our people were not killed.

“All he said then about APC killing our supporters, that APC is an evil party, was that just a lie? Was it just sympathy to get votes from us? He danced on the graves of our dead supporters,” Adebayo Adekanbi said.

However, a socio-political group, Osun Leaders of Thought, has risen in defence of the Governor, declaring that the alliance between Adeleke and President Tinubu will expand growth and development for Osun people and secure their rights and privileges within the Nigerian federation.

The group, in a statement issued by Alhaji Gboyega Olaide, said the new brotherhood will regain the rights of Osun people in terms of access to justice on the pre-election violence, direct enjoyment of federal multi-billion naira social investment funds and resolve the local government crisis.

“We affirm that the alliance represents a selfless push to protect Osun voters and secure the rights that were threatened in the countdown to the August 15 election. For the victims of the electoral violence, justice will be served. There is no hidden place for those who killed and maimed Osun people. This is a huge gain for the alliance.

“We are equally elated that there will be more transparency in the handling of the multi-billion naira federal social investment fund meant for Osun State. In the past, some failed politicians denied Osun people access to these funds from the federal level. All that will change, and Osun people will feel the positive touch of federal poverty alleviation initiatives,” the group stated.