The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has explained the reason for its poor performance in the just-concluded Osun State governorship election.

Speaking during an interview with Trust TV, the ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the party’s low vote count was a result of its collaboration with the Accord Party, which won the election.

Abdullahi explained that the ADC worked with Accord to prevent the All Progressives Congress (APC) from reclaiming power in the state.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Governor Ademola Adeleke the winner of the August 15, 2026 governorship election after he defeated his closest rival, APC candidate Bola Oyebamiji.

Adeleke polled 511,067 votes, while Oyebamiji secured 444,815 votes.

Meanwhile, ADC candidate Najeem Salaam came a distant third with 17,180 votes.

Despite the wide margin between Salaam’s votes and those of the two leading candidates, Abdullahi said the ADC did not consider its performance a failure, stressing that the party’s broader objective was to prevent the APC from winning the election.

According to him, the party identified early in the electoral process that opposition votes could be divided, creating an opportunity for the APC to emerge victorious.

“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,” he said.