Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has countered claim by the African Democratic Congress that it collaborated with the governor’s Accord Party to defeat the candidate of the All Progressive Congress in the recently held governorship election..

In an Interview on Monday by Trust TV, the ADC spokesman, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the party noted that the possibility of going to the poll without collaboration would divide the votes and APC would take the victory.

“No, no, no. like I told you, we saw the possibility of collaboration. We saw the possibility earlier that if we decided to go full throttle, the possibility that the opposition would divide the votes and APC would take the victory was there, he said.

The Peoples Gazette reported that Mr Adeleke was declared winner of the August 15 governorship election after polling 511,067 votes across the 30 local government areas of the state.

Mr Adeleke’s main challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress scored 444, 815 votes while Najeem Salem of the ADC polled 17,180 votes. 

Mr Abdullahi said anyone familiar with what happened in Osun State knew the role his party played to secure the victory for the Accord.

He added that his party could confidently celebrate what was going on in Osun State, noting that the victory meant that APC was defeated.

“We don’t see the fact that our governorship candidate did not emerge as an indication of defeat or failure, but for all the failure, the defeat of the APC was a real victory for us,” the spokesman added. 

However, Mr Adeleke on Tuesday on X, stated that his party had no electoral deal or partnership with the ADC.

“I had no electoral deal or partnership with the ADC before, during, or after the governorship election,” he wrote.

He said the credit for the victory goes to God Almighty and the good people of Osun State for their overwhelming support and his re-election.

The governor added, “For the sake of history, 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.”