The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said it collaborated with the Accord Party during the 15 August Osun State governorship election to prevent the All Progressives Congress (APC) from returning to power in the state.
National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, disclosed this on Trust TV on Monday while assessing the party’s performance in the election.
The ADC’s governorship candidate, Najeem Salaam, secured 17,180 votes, while incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party won the election with 511,067 votes. The APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, finished second with 444,815 votes.
Abdullahi said the ADC had anticipated that a division of opposition votes could benefit the APC, prompting the party to explore collaboration 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 spokesman said the relatively low number of votes secured by the party’s candidate should not be interpreted as a failure, arguing that its primary objective was to prevent the APC from reclaiming the state.
“That is why we can confidently celebrate what is going on in Osun, because for us, victory means that APC was defeated,” Abdullahi said.
He added that the failure of the APC to win the election represented a victory for the ADC, regardless of the performance of its candidate.
Asked whether the ADC had directed its supporters to vote for Adeleke, Abdullahi said the party had instead entered into a deliberate collaboration with the Accord Party with the backing of its leadership.
He said the outcome demonstrated that opposition parties could defeat the APC in the 2027 presidential election if they were able to work together.
According to him, the Osun election showed that a coordinated opposition could overcome an incumbent political party, regardless of its perceived strength.
Abdullahi, however, rejected any suggestion that the ADC should take sole credit for Adeleke’s victory, saying the people of Osun State deserved the credit.
He said the victory ultimately belonged to Adeleke, who, despite the challenges surrounding the election, emerged as governor of the state.
The ADC’s position comes as opposition parties continue to explore possible alliances ahead of the 2027 general elections, with political actors seeking strategies to challenge the dominance of the APC at the national level.
