ADC Says It Deliberately Cooperated With Accord Party to Stop APC in Osun Election
- ADC National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi revealed the party's strategy during an interview on Trust TV on Monday
- ADC governorship candidate Najeem Salaam polled 17,180 votes while Accord's Adeleke won with 511,067 votes in the August 15 election
- Abdullahi said the Osun outcome proved that opposition parties working together could defeat the ruling APC in the 2027 presidential election
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The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has admitted it chose to work with the Accord Party ahead of the August 15 Osun State governorship election to block the All Progressives Congress (APC) from returning to power in the state.
ADC National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi made the disclosure on Trust TV on Monday while speaking about the party's role in the election. He said the decision was deliberate and approved by the ADC leadership.
Source: Facebook
ADC's calculation before the vote
According to Dailytrust, Abdullahi said party officials recognised early on that a full independent campaign could split opposition votes, ultimately handing the APC a path to victory.
"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's own governorship candidate, Najeem Salaam, polled 17,180 votes in the contest. Incumbent governor and Accord Party candidate Ademola Adeleke won the election with 511,067 votes, comfortably defeating APC's Bola Oyebamiji, who came second with 444,815 votes.
Asked whether the ADC had directed supporters to back Adeleke, Abdullahi stopped short of confirming a direct endorsement. "We cooperated with the Accord Party," he said.
APC's defeat is our victory
Abdullahi rejected the suggestion that Salaam's low vote count represented a failure for the ADC, arguing that the party's real goal was always to deny the APC a return to office in Osun.
"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."
He was also careful not to claim the ADC deserved significant credit for Adeleke's win, saying recognition belonged to the people of Osun State and to the governor himself.
"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," Abdullahi said.
The ADC spokesman went further to frame the Osun outcome as a template for the 2027 presidential election, arguing that a united opposition could unseat the ruling APC at the national level.
"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.
Source: Instagram
Oyebamiji releases another message days after Adeleke's win
Legit.ng earlier reported that Bola Oyebamiji, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the Osun election, has raised an alarm over what he described as a growing wave of violence targeting his party members and supporters in the days following the poll.
In a statement addressed to APC members, leaders, and supporters across the state, Oyebamiji said that attacks which began before the election had intensified significantly within the 24 hours after results were declared.
Source: Legit.ng
