Osun Election: ADC Congratulates Adeleke On Victory

The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has congratulated Governor Ademola Adeleke on his re-election in Saturday’s Osun State governorship election, describing the outcome as a victory for democracy and for opposition forces in the country.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Bolaji Abdullahi, in a statement on Sunday, said Adeleke’s win came despite what it described as overwhelming intimidation and the massive deployment of state power by the ruling All Progressives Congress.

The ADC stated that the “result was not just a personal win for the governor, but also a win for the people of Osun and for opposition leaders who worked together to resist what it called the APC tyranny.”

The ADC commended Osun voters for standing firm against pressure, noting that the election proved that the collective will of the people can still prevail over money, intimidation and government machinery.

According to the party, the scale of mobilisation by the APC, including the presence of more than 30 governors, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and hundreds of federal and state legislators, showed how far the ruling party went to capture the state.

It stated that the attempt to turn Osun into a test case for 2027 failed because citizens refused to be cowed by security presence, arrests, and reported incidents of violence.

The party said the election reinforced the idea that bad leadership can be ended peacefully through the ballot and that hardship does not have to be a permanent condition for Nigerians.

However, the ADC raised concerns over the conduct of the election process.

The party asked the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to explain why uploading of results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal, IReV, was halted for nearly four hours on election night.

It said Nigerians deserve to know who gave the directive to stop the uploads at the point when it became clear that the APC was losing.

The ADC “noted that transparency in result management remains critical to public trust in elections. It urged INEC to provide clarity on the suspension and to ensure that such incidents do not recur, especially ahead of the 2027 general elections”.

The party concluded by reaffirming its commitment to democracy and to working with other opposition forces to defend the will of the people.

It said the Osun election should serve as proof that when citizens are determined, no political machine is greater than the electorate.