The African Democratic Congress (ADC) says it collaborated with the Accord Party during the Osun governorship election to prevent the All Progressives Congress (APC) from winning the poll.
Bolaji Abdullahi, national publicity secretary of the ADC, disclosed this on Trust TV on Monday while reacting to the party’s performance in the August 15 election.
Najeem Salaam, the ADC governorship candidate, polled 17,180 votes, while Ademola Adeleke, the incumbent governor and Accord candidate, secured 511,067 votes to defeat Bola Oyebamiji of the APC, who scored 444,815 votes.
‘APC defeat was victory for us’
Abdullahi said the ADC had anticipated that a division of opposition votes could give the APC an opportunity to win the election.
“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 did not consider its candidate’s performance a failure because its priority was to prevent the APC from returning to power in Osun.
“That is why we can confidently celebrate what is going on in Osun, because for us, victory means that APC was defeated,” he said.»
“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 whether the ADC instructed its supporters to vote for Adeleke, Abdullahi said: “We cooperated with the Accord party.”
He added that the decision was backed by the ADC leadership.
Opposition can defeat APC when united
Abdullahi said the cooperation between the ADC and Accord demonstrated that opposition parties could defeat the ruling APC in the 2027 presidential election if they worked 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.
However, Abdullahi said the ADC was not seeking to claim 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.”
The comments position the Osun election as a potential example of opposition cooperation ahead of the 2027 general election.
