African Democratic Congress says it collaborated with the Accord Party during the August 15 Osun State governorship election to prevent the All Progressives Congress from reclaiming power in the state.
ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, disclosed this while featuring on Trust TV on Monday on the party’s performance in last Saturday’s election.
ADC’s governorship candidate, Najeem Salaam, polled 17,180 votes in the election.
Incumbent Governor and Accord candidate, Ademola Adeleke, won the election with 511,067 votes, defeating his closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the APC, who secured 444,815 votes.
According to Abdullahi, ADC had identified the possibility of opposition votes being divided, which, he said, could have given the APC an advantage.
He said, “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.
“And that was why we saw the opportunity to work together, and that was what happened.”
Abdullahi said the ADC did not consider its governorship candidate’s performance a failure because the party’s primary objective was to prevent the APC from returning to power in Osun.
He added, “That is why we can confidently celebrate what is going on in Osun, because for us, victory means that APC was defeated.
“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 had directed its supporters to vote for Adeleke, Abdullahi said the party had instead cooperated with the Accord Party.
“We cooperated with the Accord party,” he said.
He said the decision was deliberate and had the backing of the ADC leadership.
Abdullahi said the development 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.
But he said the ADC would not claim sole credit for Adeleke’s victory, stressing that the people of Osun deserved the credit.
Abdullahi said, “When I say that we are not taking credit, we are saying that the credit belongs to the people of Osun State.
“The victory belongs to Ademola Adeleke, who, in spite of all odds, still managed to emerge as the governor of Osun State.”
