Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has described the Federal High Court judgment deregistering the Accord Party and four other political parties as an abuse of court process and a direct violation of a subsisting order of the Court of Appeal.
A statement issued on Monday by the governor’s spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, and made available through Osunstate.gov.ng, said Adeleke expressed surprise that the lower court proceeded to deliver judgment despite an earlier stay of proceedings granted by the appellate court.
According to the governor, the Court of Appeal had expressly ruled that the delivery of judgment remained part of the proceedings of the court and should not continue pending the determination of the appeal.
“It is on record before Honourable Justice Peter Lifu J that in the record of proceedings of the Court of Appeal of May 22, 2026, and which was put before his Lordship as Exhibit MAC 2, the Court of Appeal specifically pronounced that ‘The delivery of the judgement is still part of the proceedings of the Court,'” the statement read.
Adeleke urged residents of the state and supporters of the Accord Party to remain calm, noting that the Court of Appeal would take up the matter on Tuesday.
He expressed confidence that the legal challenge would be resolved in favour of the affected parties.
The governor said, “Efforts to stop Osun people from exercising their voting rights will fail by the special grace of Almighty God. The Rule of Law and Humanity shall prevail at the end of the day.”
He added, “I call on Osun people to remain calm and be assured that our rights will be affirmed and our party, the Accord, will be on the ballot on August 15.”
Adeleke further declared that the party would not only participate in the forthcoming governorship election but would emerge victorious.
“We will not only be on the ballot, we will win overwhelmingly the forthcoming governorship election. We should remain calm and forge ahead with mobilisation of our people,” he said.
The governor also dismissed suggestions that the ruling would affect the party’s activities, insisting that the planned flag-off of its governorship campaign would proceed as scheduled.
“I also want to assure our people that the flag off of our campaign is holding as scheduled tomorrow. They want to distract us. We are going ahead and we are winning this election,” he stated.
Adeleke added that his legal team had already commenced steps to challenge the judgment.
“Our lawyers are taking all the necessary steps to right the wrong,” he said.
