Accord Party Goes to Court to Save Its 2027 Candidates

(Accord Party. Photo Credit: Blueprint News)
The Accord Party has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to dismiss a case that could disqualify all of its candidates for the 2027 general election.

The party calls the case incompetent, filed too early and filed too late.

The suit was brought by the party's National Secretary, Adebukola Ajaja, on October 21, 2026.

She says National Chairman Maxwell Mgbudem and National Organising Secretary Ibe Kenechukwu ThankGod had no right to sign and send the party's candidate lists to the Independent National Electoral Commission without her.

She wants those lists thrown out.

Accord's lawyer, Musibau Adetunbi, argues that the case was filed after the 14 day deadline and that the court has no power to hear what is really an internal party matter.

The party also says Ajaja was not a candidate in its May 29 primary, that she did not give the required 21 day notice, and that the candidates who would be affected were not made parties to the case.

On the merits, Accord says INEC accepted its primaries and its candidate list.

It says the party's constitution and INEC's rules allow the chairman and organising secretary to sign, and it cites a Supreme Court ruling, Jegede v. INEC, to support that.

Mgbudem has filed his own response.

He accuses Ajaja of skipping the last three National Working Committee meetings and of making false claims about the number of court cases linked to the primaries.

He says the committee agreed in May that he and the organising secretary should jointly sign the forms, and that the lists were sent electronically because of the large number of candidates.