Thirteen registered political parties in Osun State have rejected the appointment of a caretaker committee for the state chapter of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), describing the move as unconstitutional and lacking the support of key stakeholders.
The parties made their position known on Saturday during a press briefing in Osogbo, where they accused the national leadership of IPAC of disregarding the council’s constitution and undermining democratic principles by constituting the caretaker committee without consultation.
Speaking on behalf of the aggrieved parties, Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA), Tosin Odeyemi, described the appointment as “a joke taken too far.”
Odeyemi recalled that the election to fill vacant positions in the Osun IPAC executive was scheduled for March 14, 2026, following the expiration of the tenure of the former chairman, Victor Akande of the Accord Party. However, the exercise was stalled after members of the electoral committee from the IPAC national secretariat failed to appear at the venue in Osogbo, despite the attendance of political party chairmen.
According to him, the National Organising Secretary of IPAC, Chinyere O. Kalu, later informed stakeholders that the election had been postponed and that a new date would be announced. He said no further communication was received from the national secretariat thereafter.
Odeyemi alleged that rather than rescheduling the election, the IPAC national leadership unilaterally constituted a caretaker committee for the Osun chapter without consulting member parties.
He argued that the IPAC constitution contains no provision for the establishment of a caretaker committee, describing the action as a violation of the council’s guiding principles of inclusiveness, transparency and democratic participation.
“The national body failed to carry stakeholders along before announcing the caretaker committee. This action is inconsistent with the ideals of IPAC and will not stand,” he said.
The parties that rejected the caretaker committee include the Labour Party (LP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Action Democratic Party (ADP), National Democratic Party (NDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), All Progressives Congress (APC), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Action Alliance (AA) and African Action Congress (AAC).
The coalition called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to disregard the caretaker committee, insisting that only a leadership produced through a properly conducted election in line with the IPAC constitution would be recognised.
The dispute comes months after the planned Osun IPAC election was aborted due to the absence of the national electoral committee, a development that left the state’s IPAC leadership unresolved.
