Rauf Aregbesola, National Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has sent a “clear message” to the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The former Governor of Osun State said, the past elections conducted in 2023 taught Nigerians an “important lesson”.
Aregebsola made the statement on Tuesday 27 January, 2026 at the public launch of The Loyalist, the memoir of ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, where he seized the opportunity to remind the ‘Broom’ Party that elections “must be free and fair”.
Aregbesola said: “Today, I spoke briefly at the public launch of The Loyalist, the memoir of ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi. I used the opportunity to remind the ruling APC that elections must be free and fair, because it is the people, not political power brokers, who should decide who wins.
“The 2023 elections taught us an important lesson: governors and other political bigwigs do not guarantee electoral victory.
“The APC’s presidential candidate was declared winner, yet he lost his ward, his local government, and his state. That alone tells us that controlling a state does not automatically translate into votes.”
The politician who served as the Minister of the Interior of Nigeria from 2019 to 2023 said, the APC were unable to surpass “55 percent of the vote” in the Southwest in the 2023 election; and struggled to amass “5.8 percent of the total votes” in the Southeast.
Aregbesola, who dumped the APC in 2025 to join the Coalition Party, said, “elections are won by the people, not by governors”, and urged those in control of the process to “commit to a free and fair election”.
He said: “In the Southwest, the APC governed all but one state, but still could not exceed 55 percent of the vote, with other parties sharing the rest. In the Southeast, the outcome was even more revealing, the APC managed just 5.8 percent of the total votes.
“The message is clear: elections are won by the people, not by governors. All we are asking of those in charge of the process is simple, commit to a free and fair election, and let the people’s choice speak for itself.”
