The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said its decision to cooperate with the Accord Party in the August 15 Osun State governorship election was aimed at preventing the All Progressives Congress (APC) from returning to power.

ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, disclosed this while speaking with Trust TV about the party’s performance in the election.

Abdullahi said the party recognised early that splitting opposition votes could give the APC an advantage.

The ADC candidate, Najeem Salaam, polled 17,180 votes, while incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke, who contested under the Accord Party, won with 511,067 votes. The APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, scored 444,815 votes.

Explaining the decision to work with Accord, Abdullahi said, “We saw the possibility of collaboration. We saw the possibility early 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 added, “And that was why we saw the opportunity to work together, and that was what happened.”

Abdullahi said the ADC did not consider the low votes received by its candidate a failure, arguing that defeating the APC was the party’s primary objective.

“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 had specifically directed its supporters to vote for Adeleke, Abdullahi said the party’s action was based on its cooperation with the Accord Party.

“We cooperated with the Accord Party,” he said.

He said the Osun result showed that opposition parties could defeat the APC by working together ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The ADC spokesperson, however, said his party was not claiming credit for Adeleke’s victory.

“The credit belongs to the people of Osun State,” Abdullahi said, adding that Adeleke “in spite of all odds, still managed to emerge as the governor of Osun State.”