Former National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Iyiola Omisore, has faulted his exclusion from the party’s forthcoming Osun State governorship primary, describing the decision as “a huge joke” and an affront to due process.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Saturday after he and other aspirants met with the APC Screening Appeal Panel, Omisore alleged that the screening outcome was influenced by partisan interests, including what he described as undue interference by former Osun State Governor and current Minister of Marine Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, to pave the way for a preferred aspirant, Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji.
The APC Screening Committee had earlier barred seven aspirants – Omisore, Babatunde Oralusi, Oyedotun Babayemi, Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi, Benedict Alabi, Adegoke Rasheed Okiki, and Senator Babajide Omoworare – from participating in the December 13 primary. Only two aspirants, Mulikat Abiola Jimoh and Oyebamiji, were cleared.
According to the committee’s report, the disqualified aspirants failed to comply with provisions of Articles 9.3(i) and 31.2(ii) of the APC Constitution and Paragraph 6(c) of the party’s primary guidelines, which require evidence of sponsorship by at least five financially up-to-date party members in each Local Government Area of Osun State.
Omisore, however, rejected the committee’s findings, insisting that neither he nor the other affected aspirants had been officially notified of any specific irregularities. He dismissed the screening report as inconsistent and politically motivated.
“That panel report is the jokiest report of the year. It is unfortunate that people have taken partisanship beyond politics,” he said. “We know the panel produced multiple reports, and the one submitted to the secretariat was not the original. As we speak, none of us has been shown the report or told why we were disqualified.”
He queried the committee’s claim that some aspirants lacked the required number of nominators, arguing that the party leadership had full access to its membership register and should have provided clarity rather than issuing what he described as vague allegations.
“We haven’t been written to. So, what are the bases of the disqualification? You said we didn’t have nominators, five per local government. But the law says he who alleges must prove. They should have used another method to disqualify us,” Omisore added.
The former deputy governor maintained that the process raised deeper concerns about fairness and transparency within the party’s nomination system, stressing that the calibre of the aspirants affected cast doubt on the credibility of the exercise.
“You can see for yourself that where you have disqualified people like us in any contest, where do we go from there?” he said.
Omisore expressed confidence that the National Working Committee (NWC) would revisit the matter, adding that the disqualification appeared to reflect simmering factional tensions within the Osun APC.
“The NWC, in their wisdom, have the list of members of the party, and we have over 13,000 financiers. All of us aspirants are guilty of the same thing, the same system, the same way. That’s the issue, and it calls for caution,” he said.
He urged the party’s national leadership to intervene decisively to restore confidence in the primary process and ensure that justice is served.
