ADC Says Low Votes Were Due to Working with Accord Party

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) says its low vote count in Saturday’s governorship election was because it worked with the Accord party, which won the election.

The ADC claimed its partnership with the Accord Party during the Osun State governorship election on 15 August was a planned move to stop the All Progressives Congress (APC) from winning.

Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, shared this on Monday in an interview with Trust TV while discussing the party's performance in the election.

According to PREMIUM TIMES, the election was won by the current governor and Accord candidate, Ademola Adeleke, who received 511,067 votes. His closest rival, the APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, got 444,815 votes. The ADC candidate, Najeem Salaam, came in third with just 17,180 votes.

Even though Salaam had a low vote count compared to the top candidates, Abdullahi said the ADC does not view its performance as a failure. He explained that the party's main goal was to ensure the APC did not regain power in Osun.

Abdullahi said they recognized early on that splitting opposition votes could allow APC to win, so they decided to team up with Accord. He 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."

He continued, "And that was why we saw the opportunity to work together, and that was what happened."

The ADC wants to be a major contender against the APC in next year’s general election. But the party has struggled in previous elections, often getting less than 10 percent of the votes. In Osun, where ADC's national secretary, Rauf Aregbesola, is a former governor, the party received less than 5 percent of the total votes.

When asked if ADC told its Osun supporters to vote for Adeleke, Abdullahi said the party "cooperated with the Accord party." He added that the ADC leaders supported this choice.

He explained that the party’s idea of victory was not just about having its candidate win but also about stopping the APC from returning to power in Osun. Abdullahi said, "That is why we can confidently celebrate what is going on in Osun, because for us, victory means that APC was defeated."

He added, "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."

ADC Talks About Future Plans

Abdullahi said what happened in Osun shows that opposition parties can beat the APC in the 2027 elections if they come together. He called the cooperation with Accord a planned choice, saying its success proved the strategy was right.

He stated, "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."

Despite this, Abdullahi said the ADC would not take full credit for Adeleke’s win. He said the main credit goes to the voters and the Accord candidate.

He remarked, "When I say that we are not taking credit, we are saying that the credit belongs to the people of Osun State."

Abdullahi added, "The victory belongs to Ademola Adeleke, who, in spite of all odds, still managed to emerge as the governor of Osun State."

Meanwhile, despite ADC’s claims, Adeleke has thanked President Bola Tinubu for allegedly staying neutral during the election. After winning, he also expressed support for Tinubu’s re-election on the APC platform.