S/West Accord chairmen fault national chairman’s position

By Adeyemi Adeleye

South-West State Chairmen of Accord Party have reaffirmed Dr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim (GOH) as the party’s presidential candidate for 2027, faulting the national leadership’s nomination of another candidate.

The Accord party on Thursday announced Prof. Christopher Imumolen as its presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections, days after announcing a former PDP Chieftain, Olawepo-Hashim as its consensus presidential candidate.

The party’s National Chairman, Mr Maxwell Mgbuden, in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja, had called on the public to disregard the report naming Olawepo-Hashim as Accord’s presidential candidate.

Reacting through a joint statement on Wednesday, some South-West State Chairmen of the party, Mr Aderopo Phillip (Ekiti), Mr Rotimi Oke (Ogun), Mr Ayodele Adeniji (Ondo) and Mr Dele Oladeji (Lagos) dismissed Mgbudem’s position that Olawepo-Hashim was not validly nominated.

On the purported denial of Olawepo-Hashim’s candidacy by the Accord national chairman, Oladeji said: “We posit that such a claim is the joke of the century, as it embarrasses members and leaders of the party across the nation.

“The claim that GOH paid his nomination fee outside the nomination window is baseless, as the party did not set any deadline for the payment of nomination fees.

“The party’s bank records will confirm that nomination fee payments were made until May 30, 2026.

“The suggestion that a refund, even if made, can invalidate the presidential mandate already given by hundreds of thousands of Accord members nationwide through affirmative votes is untenable.,”he said.

According to him, Olawepo-Hashim was the sole aspirant until the day of the primary election and emerged as the Accord Party’s presidential candidate unopposed.

“How then can we deny the faces and identities of Accord members who were captured during the party’s presidential primary election?”

“We, however, acknowledge that Accord’s cherished principles of transparency, accountability, and due process were compromised in the conduct of the governorship primary in Oyo State, where some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) organised a parallel primary, as well as in the presidential primary, which is now being blatantly denied.

“A few party leaders abandoned party rules and guidelines and acted with impunity, parochial self-interest, moral decadence, exploitation, and double-dealing.

“These issues are presently being corrected and redressed by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC),” he said.