The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has revealed that it collaborated with the Accord Party during Saturday’s Osun State governorship election to prevent the All Progressives Congress (APC) from reclaiming power in the state.
The National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, disclosed this while assessing the party’s performance in the election.
The ADC governorship candidate, Najeem Salaam, polled 17,180 votes, while the incumbent governor and Accord candidate, Ademola Adeleke, won the election with 511,067 votes.
Bola Oyebamiji of the APC came second with 444,815 votes.
According to Abdullahi, the ADC had earlier identified the risk of opposition votes being divided, which could have given the APC an advantage.
“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,” he said.
Abdullahi said the ADC did not regard Salaam’s performance as a failure because the party’s primary objective 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.
“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,” the ADC spokesperson added.
Asked whether the ADC had directed its supporters to vote for Adeleke, Abdullahi clarified that the party’s arrangement was a collaboration with the Accord Party.
“We cooperated with the Accord Party,” he said.
According to him, the decision was deliberate and had the backing of the ADC leadership.
Abdullahi said the outcome of the election showed 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.
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