Adeleke Dismisses ADC's Claims About Election Deal

The Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has denied having any agreement with the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to help him win Saturday’s election.

Adeleke responded to a statement from ADC spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi. He 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.” He shared this on X on Tuesday.

Abdullahi claimed that the party’s partnership with Adeleke's camp played a role in the election results and their low number of votes.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Abdullahi mentioned the party’s low vote count was because of their work with Adeleke’s party. “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 said on Monday during an interview with Trust TV.

Abdullahi added, “And that was why we saw the opportunity to work together, and that was what happened.”

This claim came during a closely fought election, where the APC aimed to win Osun State back after losing to Adeleke four years ago. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Adeleke as the winner of the 2026 governorship election, with 511,067 votes. He defeated APC candidate Bola Oyebamiji, who received 444,815 votes.

Adeleke's victory margin was 66,252 votes, which is more than double the 28,344-vote margin he had over Gboyega Oyetola in the 2022 election.

The ADC’s candidate, Najeem Salaam, came in third in the 2026 election, with a much lower vote count than the top two candidates.

Abdullahi’s remarks suggested that the ADC’s poor performance was linked to their choice to collaborate with Adeleke. Yet, Adeleke disagreed and said the ADC should not take any credit for his success.

“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 said.