Omisore Rejects Disqualification From Osun APC Primary, Alleges Bias and Manipulation

Former National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has condemned his exclusion from the party’s Osun State governorship primary, describing the screening process as biased, irregular, and influenced by vested interests.

Omisore, who addressed journalists in Abuja on Saturday after meeting with the APC Screening Appeal Panel, said the decision to bar him and six other aspirants from the December 13 primary was “a complete farce.”

He alleged that former Osun State Governor and current Minister of Marine Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, manipulated the process to favour Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, one of the two aspirants cleared to contest.

The APC Screening Committee had earlier disqualified seven aspirants — Omisore, Babatunde Oralusi, Oyedotun Babayemi, Dr Akin Ogunbiyi, Benedict Alabi, Adegoke Rasheed Okiki, and Senator Babajide Omoworare — citing irregularities in their nomination documents.

Only Mulikat Abiola Jimoh and Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji were cleared.

According to the committee, the barred aspirants failed to provide evidence of sponsorship from at least five fully registered and financially compliant party members in each Local Government Area, as required under the APC Constitution and guidelines.

But Omisore dismissed the justification as unfounded, saying none of the aspirants received formal communication on the alleged breaches.

“That panel report is the jokiest report of the year. It is quite unfortunate that people have taken partisanship beyond politics,” he said.

He also claimed the committee submitted “multiple reports,” and that the version forwarded to the party secretariat was not original.

“We haven’t been shown the report or told why we were disqualified,” he stated.

Omisore challenged the committee’s claim that aspirants did not meet the nominator requirement, arguing that the party already had full access to the membership register.

“The law says, he who alleges must prove. They should have used another method to disqualify us,” he said.

The former APC national scribe added that the development raised deeper concerns about transparency and the growing factionalism within the Osun APC.

“You can know from our pedigree that the disqualification wasn’t the right word to use for us because we are veterans. If you disqualify people like us in any contest, where do we go from there?” he asked.

Expressing optimism, Omisore said he expected the National Working Committee to review and possibly overturn the decision.

“The NWC, in their own wisdom, have the list of party members. And all of us aspirants are guilty of the same thing, the same system, the same way. That’s why this calls for caution,” he added.