The National Chairman of the Accord Party, Maxwell Mgbudem, has appealed the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja which affirmed Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2027 election.
Mgbudem filed the appeal at the Court of Appeal, challenging the judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Garba Umar of the Federal High Court.
The appeal seeks to reopen the legal dispute over the Accord Party’s presidential primary held on May 30, 2026, from which Olawepo-Hashim emerged as the candidate.
Justice Umar, in his judgment delivered on October 5, ordered the Accord Party to upload and/or forward Olawepo-Hashim’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its presidential candidate.
The judgment followed a suit filed by Olawepo-Hashim against Accord and INEC after the party failed to submit his name to the electoral commission.
Olawepo-Hashim had maintained that he emerged as the winner of the May 30 presidential primary, while the Accord Party and INEC relied on a purported notification stating that the exercise had been cancelled.
During the proceedings, counsel to Accord, T.W. Olusesi, argued that the primary had been validly cancelled and that no valid primary was conducted to produce Olawepo-Hashim as the party’s presidential candidate.
Counsel to Olawepo-Hashim, Henry Akunebu, SAN, challenged the validity of the purported cancellation documents, particularly a letter allegedly notifying INEC that the primary had been cancelled.
Akunebu argued that the document did not bear the party’s official stamp or imprimatur and questioned the circumstances surrounding its receipt by INEC.
INEC had also maintained that it did not monitor the May 30 exercise because it had received notification that the primary had been cancelled.
Justice Umar, however, rejected the objections and held that the evidence before the court established that Olawepo-Hashim had emerged from the May 30 primary.
The court also considered evidence that the Accord Party had accepted ₦50 million from Olawepo-Hashim for his Expression of Interest and nomination forms.
The Federal High Court subsequently ordered the party to forward or upload his name to INEC as its presidential candidate.
Following the judgment, a Certified True Copy of the ruling was served on both Accord and INEC on October 8, according to documents supplied to SaharaReporters.
Mgbudem’s appeal now places the implementation of the Federal High Court judgment within the context of a pending appellate challenge.
The appeal represents a continuation of the dispute over the party’s 2027 presidential ticket, rather than an end to the litigation following the Federal High Court judgment.
Olawepo-Hashim had, after the judgment, called on party members and stakeholders to reconcile and work together ahead of the 2027 elections.
“I give God the Glory for this victory, I dedicate the victory also to all stakeholders and our dear party members and my hardworking legal team. We are grateful to the Judiciary that has done justice on this matter,” Olawepo-Hashim said.
“We won’t leave anybody behind…We should all come together and work for the party’s victory in the January 16, 2027 presidential election and all other elections. The march to a New Nigeria has started …”
With Mgbudem now challenging the judgment at the Court of Appeal, the legal contest over who will fly the Accord Party’s presidential ticket in 2027 is set to continue.