The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said it collaborated with the Accord Party during the August 15 Osun State governorship election to prevent the All Progressives Congress (APC) from reclaiming power in the state.
National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, disclosed this on Trust TV on Monday while speaking on the party’s performance in the election.
The ADC’s governorship candidate, Najeem Salaam, polled 17,180 votes, while incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party won with 511,067 votes. Bola Oyebamiji of the APC came second with 444,815 votes.
Abdullahi said the ADC anticipated that a division of opposition votes could have created an advantage for the APC, prompting the party to collaborate with Accord.
“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.”
The ADC spokesperson said the party did not regard its candidate’s low vote tally as a failure, arguing that its primary objective was to prevent the APC from returning to power.
“That is why we can confidently celebrate what is going on in Osun, because for us, victory means that APC was defeated,” Abdullahi 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 if the ADC had directed its supporters to vote for Adeleke, Abdullahi said the party instead worked with the Accord Party as part of a deliberate strategy backed by its leadership.
He said the outcome of the election demonstrated that opposition parties could defeat the APC in the 2027 presidential election if they were able to 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 would not claim sole credit for Adeleke’s victory, stressing that the people of Osun State deserved the credit.
“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.”
