Thirteen political parties spurn the interim leadership of Osun's IPAC, refusing to acknowledge the newly appointed caretaker committee.

A total of thirteen registered political parties in Osun State have expressed their disapproval of the newly appointed caretaker committee for the Inter-Party Advisory Council, the umbrella organization representing all opposition parties in the state, on Saturday.

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The chairman of the Democratic Leadership Alliance, Tosin Odeyemi, spoke on behalf of the dissenting parties, dismissing the caretaker committee appointment as an overextension of a joke, and highlighted the national IPAC body's failure to hold elections for vacant council positions in Osun after the previous chairman's term expired.

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According to Odeyemi, the former chairman, Victor Akande, who also serves as the state chairman of the Accord Party, sought reelection, while Odeyemi himself, then the chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party in Osun, also declared interest in the council's chairmanship.

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The election, initially scheduled for March 14, 2026, was disrupted due to the absence of committee members responsible for conducting the election, with the National Organising Secretary of IPAC, Chinyere O. Kalu, later announcing that the election had been postponed and a new date would be communicated.

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Since the postponement, there has been no further communication from the IPAC National Secretariat, and the state secretariat is currently non-functional, leaving no clear direction for official correspondence, a situation that has led to the IPAC being exploited by politicians.

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Odeyemi stated that the national IPAC body undermined the values of tolerance, accommodation, and teamwork in planning and organizing political competition, and instead, unilaterally established a caretaker committee for Osun without consulting stakeholders, a decision that will not be accepted.

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The list of parties that have rejected the composition of the Osun IPAC caretaker committee includes the Labour Party, African Democratic Congress, Nigeria Democratic Congress, Zenith Labour Party, Action Democratic Party, National Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party, All Progressives Congress, Allied Peoples Movement, Democratic Leadership Alliance, New Nigeria Peoples Party, Action Alliance, and African Action Congress.

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Odeyemi questioned the sudden establishment of a caretaker committee, given that the IPAC Constitution does not provide for such an arrangement, and called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to disregard the caretaker committee.

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Uncertainty surrounded the election of new leadership for the Inter-Party Advisory Council in Osun State due to the non-appearance of committee members responsible for the exercise at the scheduled venue.

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The election, which was to be handled by a committee from the IPAC national secretariat in Abuja, was scheduled to take place at the Osun State office of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Osogbo, but as of 2:14 p.m., the exercise had not commenced, with the situation blamed on the absence of committee members.