…ADC says it worked with Accord to stop APC; Adeleke denies electoral pact
Daud Olatunji
A fresh political controversy has erupted over the outcome of the August 15 Osun State governorship election, following conflicting claims by the African Democratic Congress and Governor Ademola Adeleke over an alleged alliance that helped defeat the All Progressives Congress.
While the ADC has claimed that it deliberately worked with the Accord Party to prevent the APC from reclaiming Osun, Adeleke has rejected the claim, insisting that his re-election was not secured through any electoral deal or partnership with the ADC.
The ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, disclosed the party’s position on Monday while speaking on Trust TV, saying the party had identified the danger of opposition votes being split before the election.
According to him, the ADC leadership decided to cooperate with Accord because allowing opposition votes to fragment could have paved the way for an APC victory.
Abdullahi said, “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.”
The claim is significant because ADC’s governorship candidate, Dr Najeem Salaam, secured only 17,180 votes, while Adeleke, who contested under Accord, won the election with 511,067 votes.
The APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, came second with 444,815 votes, leaving Adeleke with a margin of 66,252 votes over his closest challenger.
ADC: Our victory was APC’s defeat
Abdullahi said the ADC would not regard Salaam’s third-place finish as a political failure because the party’s immediate objective was to stop the APC from returning to power in Osun.
He argued that the outcome validated the party’s decision to cooperate with Accord.
“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.”
When asked whether the ADC specifically directed its supporters to vote for Adeleke, Abdullahi avoided describing the arrangement as a direct voting instruction, saying instead that the party “cooperated with the Accord Party.”
He maintained that the decision was deliberate and had the backing of the ADC leadership.
The party spokesman also projected the Osun development as a possible template for the 2027 presidential election, arguing that opposition parties could defeat the APC if they worked together rather than allowing their votes to be divided.
He said the outcome had demonstrated that “the opposition working together can actually defeat this incumbent.”
However, Abdullahi was careful not to claim that ADC alone delivered Adeleke’s victory, saying the people of Osun deserved the credit.
“The credit belongs to the people of Osun State,” he said, adding that the victory ultimately belonged to Adeleke.
Adeleke: ADC was never part of our alliance
But Adeleke on Tuesday flatly rejected the claim, saying the ADC was not part of the political alliance that supported his re-election bid.
The governor, through his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, said he had no electoral deal or partnership with the ADC before, during or after the election.
Adeleke also rejected the suggestion that the ADC formed part of the “rainbow coalition” that mobilised support for his re-election.
According to him, his victory was made possible by God, the people of Osun State and political partners who supported his campaign.
“I commend political partners who went all out to make Saturday a victory day for all Osun people. But we must clarify for the sake of history that ADC was never part of the alliance,” Adeleke said.
The governor added, “Now that the election is over, I am a governor of all Osun people irrespective of political groups, religion or race.”
The conflicting accounts have now raised questions over the nature of political negotiations, informal voter coordination and opposition strategies surrounding the election.
While the ADC’s account suggests that its leadership viewed preventing an APC comeback as more important than winning the governorship with its own candidate, Adeleke’s response indicates that his camp does not recognise the ADC as part of the coalition that delivered his victory.
Amid the controversy, the ADC governorship candidate, Salaam, has adopted a conciliatory tone, thanking party members and supporters for their efforts throughout the campaign.
Salaam also acknowledged the contribution of former Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, describing him as a political strategist and mobiliser whose experience strengthened the ADC’s campaign.
He said the party’s campaign was not merely about acquiring political power but about advancing the development and future of Osun State.
Salaam also thanked Osun voters for participating in the election, stressing that their choices should be respected because democracy ultimately belongs to the people.
2027 implications
The disagreement between ADC and Adeleke comes at a time when opposition parties are increasingly debating the possibility of forming broader alliances ahead of the 2027 general elections.
For the ADC, the Osun election has provided an example of what coordinated opposition politics could achieve against an incumbent party.
But Adeleke’s rejection of the alleged alliance underscores a potentially difficult challenge for opposition parties: translating informal cooperation at the grassroots into a recognised and coordinated political arrangement at the leadership level.
The Osun result has therefore produced two competing narratives.
The ADC sees the defeat of the APC as evidence that opposition collaboration can work, while Adeleke insists that his victory should not be attributed to an electoral pact with the ADC.
The Independent National Electoral Commission declared Adeleke winner on Sunday after he secured 511,067 votes against Oyebamiji’s 444,815 votes, with Salaam recording 17,180 votes.
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