Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke has denied claims that his Accord Party worked with the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the August 15 governorship election.

Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC national publicity secretary, had said the party collaborated with Accord to prevent the opposition vote from splitting and improve Adeleke’s chances of defeating the APC.

Adeleke won the election with 511,067 votes, defeating Bola Oyebamiji of the APC, who polled 444,815 votes. Najeem Salaam, the ADC candidate, finished third with 17,180 votes.

The governor won 19 of the state’s 30 local government areas, while Oyebamiji secured the remaining 11.

Speaking in an interview with Trust TV on Monday, Abdullahi said the ADC had identified the risk of opposition votes being divided, which could have benefited the APC.

He said the party therefore saw an opportunity to work with Accord to ensure the APC did not secure victory.

“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,” Abdullahi said.

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

Responding in a post on X on Tuesday, Adeleke rejected the claim, saying there was no electoral agreement between his campaign and the ADC before, during or after the election.

“I had no electoral deal or partnership with the ADC before, during, or after the governorship election,” Adeleke said.

The governor attributed his victory to God and the people of Osun, while acknowledging the political partners who supported his campaign.

He said the ADC was not part of the “rainbow coalition” that mobilised support for his campaign ahead of the election.

“For the sake of history, it is important to clarify that the ADC was never part of the rainbow coalition that canvassed, mobilised, and supported our campaign in the battle leading to last Saturday’s election,” he said.

Adeleke thanked the political allies who worked with his campaign and said their support contributed to his victory.

With the election concluded, the governor said he would govern all residents of Osun regardless of their political affiliation, religion or ethnicity.

“My commitment is to unite our people and continue working for the progress and prosperity of Osun State,” he said.