The national leadership of the Accord Party has called for the immediate release or prosecution of members of the party who were arrested before the conduct of the August 15 governorship election in Osun State.

The National Chairman of Accord Party, Maxwell Mgbudem, made the demand while addressing journalists in Osogbo on Monday following the victory of the candidate of the party, Senator Ademola Adeleke, in the election.

“Accord demands the immediate release of all its leaders, candidates, members and supporters arrested and detained in Abuja, Nasarawa and Osun states in flagrant violation of their fundamental rights as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended,” Mgbudem stated.

He noted that the victory of Adeleke in the election was a powerful testament of the people’s resolve to freely and peacefully choose their governor and protect their votes despite all odds.

Mgbudem condemned the high level of harassment, intimidation, destruction of property, arrests, detention, killings, and the use of federal might, particularly the police and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to subdue the party and the people of the state.

“The objective is to destabilise the government of His Excellency Governor Ademola Adeleke and make Osun State ungovernable to pave the way for a declaration of a state of emergency,” he noted.

According to him, the achievements of Governor Adeleke are evident, making the people identify with him and the Accord Party in pursuit of a better, greater, brighter and prosperous Osun State.

“It was indeed the triumph of courage over fear and intimidation. The people have spoken loud and clear with their votes. They have in one accord renewed the mandate of their beloved Governor Adeleke. They have voted for continuity, compassionate and inclusive governance.

“This victory is dedicated to the peace-loving people of Osun State who have powerfully demonstrated their abiding faith in democratic participation and the Accord government in Osun State,” he said.

He commended all Nigerians, the civil society organisations, local and foreign election observers, the international community, the electoral umpire and security agencies who prioritised electoral integrity and transparency in the election.

He also commended the candidates of various political parties who stepped down for Governor Ademola Adeleke, saying this will help build a strong political alliance aimed at deepening the nation’s democracy.

Mgbudem further noted that the Accord Party had extended its hand of fellowship to all the political parties, their candidates, members and supporters with the government in making Osun State great again.

He maintained that Christopher Imomolen, claiming to be the national chairman of Accord, who endorsed the APC governorship candidate before the election, was not a member of the Accord Party.

Former federal lawmaker, Dino Melaye, has alleged that the All Progressives Congress, APC, spent about N70 billion to buy votes in the just-concluded governorship election in Osun State.


Melaye made the allegation in a post he shared on his official Facebook page on Monday.

The former lawmaker pointed out that there are lessons Nigerians ought to learn from the outcome of the Osun election ahead of the 2027 general elections.

According to him, electorates in Osun collected money from the ruling party but still voted for their various choices.

“Nigerians must learn from Osun election where APC spent a whopping 70 billion naira only to procure 444,816 votes plus rigging.

“The implication is that more people collected APC money and voted for their conscience.

“2027, collect APC money and vote your conscience. APC till we meet again,” he wrote.

A former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, has said the 2027 general elections will be difficult to rig if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducts them in the same manner as the just-concluded Osun State governorship election.

Chidoka, Chancellor of the non-partisan and independent think tank, the Athena Centre, said the only way the 2027 election could be rigged was if it was not conducted.

“The only way to rig the election in 2027 is not to conduct it,” Chidoka said on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday.

“If you conduct it with this (Osun) process, by 7 we at Athena Centre will be giving you results state by state, how many have been uploaded and what the scores are, we will tell you that. Even if they say no technology will work that day, we will use manual system, we will put over 5,000 people on the 8,000 wards in Nigeria and be downloading it because Nigeria just needs to make a move.”

He said election rigging had become outdated and urged Nigerian leaders to abandon the practice.

“We need to get out of here, we need to stop this, election rigging is old, it’s not something any leader does. Don’t they feel ashamed when they meet other world leaders and you come with a tainted mandate? No, that has gone,” he said.

Chidoka recalled how election-monitoring organisations were able to collate results during the Osun governorship election, saying the same could be achieved in 2027 if INEC allows the IReV platform to function as it did during the poll.

“They (those who wanted to rig) were sitting and waiting, they didn’t know the world had moved. YIAGA was already collating the results, Athena Centre was already collating the results, Dataphyte was already collating the results. So, we knew the numbers from every ward and every polling unit. And guess what, we are going to do it in the 2027 election.”

Speaking further, Chidoka praised the conduct of the Osun governorship election, describing it as another example of the progress Nigeria had made in electoral technology.

He said INEC performed well in deploying technology during the election, making it possible for Nigerians to monitor developments in real time.

“The competition was intense, the technology worked and then the people behaved well. Because despite technology working well in some places, we have seen INEC officials and electoral officers behave badly.

“But what was important on Saturday was that technology was working, the people were working and the more important one which I think Nigerians should be happy about is that AI played a critical role in this election. All of us who monitor IRev spending hours trying to get people download results and entering manually. AI made it possible for us to aggregate the results in minutes,” he said.

Chidoka said it was paramount for the will of Nigerians to be reflected in every election, adding that the country must move away from the idea of relying on the courts to determine who gets into office.