OSUN ELECTION: ADC SAYS IT COLLABORATED WITH ACCORD TO BLOCK APC VICTORY

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By:Tajudeen Aminat

The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has explained its poor showing in the recently concluded Osun State governorship election, saying its decision to collaborate with the Accord Party was aimed at preventing the All Progressives Congress, APC, from winning.

Speaking during an interview on Trust TV, ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the party deliberately worked with Accord after identifying the possibility of opposition votes being divided.

According to him, the collaboration was considered necessary to prevent the APC from benefiting from a split in votes among opposition parties.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared the incumbent governor, Ademola Adeleke, winner of the August 15, 2026 governorship election.

Adeleke secured 511,067 votes to defeat the APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, who polled 444,815 votes.

The ADC candidate, Najeem Salaam, finished third with 17,180 votes.

Despite the significant gap between Salaam’s votes and those of the two leading candidates, Abdullahi said the ADC did not regard its performance as a failure, stressing that the party’s broader objective was to prevent the APC from returning to power in the state.

He explained that the party had anticipated the possibility of opposition votes being fragmented and subsequently explored an alliance 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.

“And that was why we saw the opportunity to work together, and that was what happened,” he said.