The African Democratic Congress, ADC, says its collaboration with Accord in the Osun governorship election was deliberate and aimed at preventing the All Progressives Congress, APC, from winning the poll.
National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, stated this while reacting to the outcome of the August 15 election.
ADC candidate, Najeem Salaam, polled 17,180 votes. Incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke of Accord won with 511,067 votes to defeat Bola Oyebamiji of the APC who got 444,815 votes.
Abdullahi said the party foresaw that if the opposition went into the election separately, votes would be divided and the APC would take advantage.
“We saw the possibility of collaboration. We saw the possibility earlier enough that if we decided to go full throttle, the possibility that the opposition would divide the votes and the APC would take the victory was there,” he said.
“And that was why we saw the opportunity to work together, and that was what happened.”
He said the ADC does not regard the poor showing of its candidate as a failure because the main objective was to stop the APC.
“That is why we can confidently celebrate what is going on in Osun, because for us, victory means that APC was defeated,” Abdullahi added.
“So we don’t see the fact that our governorship candidate did not emerge as an occasion of defeat or failure. The failure, the defeat of the APC, was a real victory for us.”
Asked if the ADC instructed supporters to vote for Adeleke, Abdullahi said: “We cooperated with the Accord party.” He noted that the decision had the backing of the ADC leadership.
According to him, the cooperation is proof that opposition parties can defeat the ruling APC in the 2027 presidential election if they work together.
“It’s something that was deliberate, and we are glad that the outcome has justified the confidence that everyone has put in the process, and it has proved that the opposition working together can actually defeat this incumbent, no matter how awesome they are,” he said.
Abdullahi, however, said the ADC is not claiming sole credit for Adeleke’s victory.
“When I say that we are not taking credit, we are saying that the credit belongs to the people of Osun state,” he said.
“The victory belongs to Ademola Adeleke, who, in spite of all odds, still managed to emerge as the governor of Osun state.”
Osun 2026: Collaboration With Accord Stopped APC ~ ADC
