Osun political parties reject IPAC caretaker committee, seek NEC’s resignation

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo –

Some registered political parties in Osun State on Saturday rejected the caretaker committee constituted for the state chapter of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), describing a letter purportedly signed by the council’s National Chairman, Dr. Yusuf Dantalle, and National Secretary, Barr. Maxwell Mgbudem, as “a joke taken too far”.

The parties also called for the resignation of IPAC’s National Executive Committee (NEC), accusing it of incompetence and insensitivity to the wishes of the majority of member parties.

Addressing journalists at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Correspondents’ Chapel in Osogbo, the Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA), Dr. Tosin Odeyemi, said the tenure of the immediate past IPAC chairman, Pastor Victor Akande of the Accord Party, expired in February 2026. He added that the election scheduled for March 14 was aborted after officials assigned to conduct it failed to appear.

Odeyemi said the National Organising Secretary later informed stakeholders that a new date for the election would be communicated, but noted that “since then, there has been no further communication from the IPAC National Secretariat”.

The group alleged that IPAC, which was established to promote free, fair, credible and peaceful elections, had allowed itself to be influenced by politicians by constituting what it described as a biased caretaker committee.

“But to our chagrin, the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), saddled with the responsibility of promoting and sustaining a free, fair, credible, transparent, inclusive and peaceful electoral environment in Nigeria, has turned itself into a willing tool in the hands of politicians. Eight out of the nine members of the National IPAC Executive forced their party chairmen in Osun State into the biased caretaker committee, neglecting others,” the group said.

The parties further alleged that the chairman of the Action Peoples Party (APP), Odesola Oluseyi Titus, was appointed to head the committee because of the party’s loyalty to the ruling party in the state.

They also argued that the IPAC Constitution makes no provision for a caretaker committee, insisting that the arrangement was unlawful and would not stand. According to them, the move amounted to “broad daylight cheating and bias”.