The African Democratic Congress (ADC) says its collaboration with the Accord Party in the Osun governorship election was aimed at preventing the All Progressives Congress (APC) from winning the poll.

Bolaji Abdullahi, national publicity secretary of the ADC, disclosed this in an interview on Monday while reacting to the party’s performance in the August 15 election.

The ADC’s governorship candidate, Najeem Salaam, polled 17,180 votes, while incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke, who contested on the platform of Accord, won the election with 511,067 votes.

Adeleke defeated his closest rival, Bola Oyebamiji of the APC, who secured 444,815 votes.

Abdullahi said the ADC had anticipated that a division of opposition votes could pave the way for the APC to win the election, 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 spokesman said the party did not consider its candidate’s poor performance a failure because its primary objective was to prevent the APC from returning to power in the state.

“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 directed its supporters to vote for Adeleke, Abdullahi said: “We cooperated with the Accord party.”

He said the decision was backed by the leadership of the ADC.

ADC Says Opposition Unity Can Defeat APC in 2027

Abdullahi said the cooperation between the ADC and Accord in Osun demonstrated that opposition parties could defeat the APC in the 2027 presidential election if they unite.

“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 would not claim sole credit for Adeleke’s victory, attributing the outcome to the people of Osun State.

“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.” (AriseNews TV)