The factional National Chairman of the Accord Party, Prof. Chris Imumolen, has said his claim to the party’s leadership is based on court judgements.

Prof. Imumolen, who stirred controversy by adopting the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Saturday’s Osun governorship election, said his claim is not merely a political assertion or self-declaration.

“It arose from a serious leadership dispute within the party following the party’s 2024 national convention and resulted in judicial proceedings before the courts,” he stated.

According to him, Justice M.M Adamu of the Abuja Federal High Court, on August “29/30, 2024, granted him an order against Barr. Maxwell Mgbudem and other defendants.

“Contemporary reports confirmed that the court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Prof. Chris Imumolen as National Chairman of Accord, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive dispute.

“The court also restrained the defendants from parading themselves as the National Executive Committee of the party and restrained them from conducting state and local-government congresses pending determination of the substantive matter.

“This is significant because it establishes that Prof. Imumolen’s claim to the chairmanship had judicial recognition at an interim stage. It was not simply a position he announced without recourse to the courts,” Imumolen added.

He argued that a subsequent court order in his favour overtook the leadership dispute that arose between him and Mgbudem after the July 2024 Accord Party national convention.

“Indeed, Mgbudem’s camp publicly stated in September 2024 that Justice Adamu had subsequently ordered that the status quo be maintained.

“Therefore, the central issue is not whether there was a leadership dispute. The legal question is which competing leadership structure has the ultimate legal validity,” he stated.