The Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has denied that he had any deal with the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to secure his second term victory in Saturday’s governorship election.
Mr Adeleke, in an apparent response to a claim by ADC spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi, said, “…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.” The Osun governor stated this in a post on X on Tuesday.
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PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that ADC’s spokesperson, Mr Abdullahi, had claimed that his party’s low vote count during the election was due to its collaboration with Mr Adeleke’s party.
He said the party’s collaboration with Mr Adeleke’s camp was part of the political calculations that contributed to the outcome of the election and its own low vote tally.
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“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,” Mr Abdullahi said on Monday during an interview with Trust TV while assessing the party’s performance in the election.
“And that was why we saw the opportunity to work together, and that was what happened,” he added.
The claim came amid a highly competitive election in which the APC sought to reclaim Osun State four years after its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola, lost the governorship to Mr Adeleke in 2022.
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Following the 2026 governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Mr Adeleke, who contested on the Accord Party platform, the winner with 511,067 votes, defeating the APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, who polled 444,815 votes.
The result gave Mr Adeleke a winning margin of 66,252 votes, more than twice the 28,344-vote margin by which he defeated Mr Oyetola in the 2022 election.
The ADC’s candidate, Najeem Salaam, polled 17,018 voted to finish a distant third.
Mr Abdullahi’s comments therefore suggested that the ADC’s electoral performance was influenced by the party’s decision to work with the governor’s political camp.
Mr Adeleke, however, rejected that what he referred to as a “rainbow coalition”, an assembly of various political parties opposing the APC, the party in charge of the federal government. He said the ADC should not be credited for his victory.
ALSO READ: ANALYSIS: Six factors that helped Adeleke win #OsunDecides2026
“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,” he wrote.
He commended all “political partners who sacrificed, worked tirelessly, and went all out to make Saturday a victory day for all Osun people. Their commitment and support were instrumental to our success.”
” Now that the election is over, I remain the Governor of all Osun people, irrespective of political affiliation, religion, or tribe. My commitment is to unite our people and continue working for the progress and prosperity of Osun State,” he added.
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