Olusegun Arioyo
A former National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has faulted his exclusion from the party’s Osun State governorship primary, describing the move as “a complete farce,” while accusing the screening panel of bias and procedural breaches.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Saturday, after a meeting with the APC Screening Appeal Panel, Omisore, who spoke on behalf of the affected aspirants, alleged that former Governor and Minister of Marine Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, had unduly influenced the process to give an advantage to Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji.
Earlier, the APC Screening Committee had disqualified Omisore and six other aspirants from participating in the December 13 governorship primary over alleged irregularities in their nomination documents.
Those barred from the race include Omisore, Babatunde Oralusi, Oyedotun Babayemi, Dr Akin Ogunbiyi, Benedict Alabi, Adegoke Rasheed Okiki, and Senator Babajide Omoworare.
According to the committee, the aspirants failed to submit proof of sponsorship from at least five fully registered and financially up-to-date party members in each Local Government Area, as stipulated in Articles 9.3(i) and 31.2(ii) of the APC Constitution and Paragraph 6(c) of the party’s guidelines.
Only Mulikat Abiola Jimoh and Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji were certified fit to contest the primary.
Omisore dismissed the basis for the disqualification, insisting that none of the aspirants received any formal communication outlining the alleged breaches.
He said, “Well, that panel report is the jokiest report of the year. It is quite unfortunate that people have taken partisanship beyond politics.
“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 further challenged the committee’s assertion that some aspirants did not meet the required number of nominators, arguing that the party leadership already had complete access to the membership register.
“I am the only one who has met them. But we have the same reservations. So far, so good. All of us will meet the appeal panel individually. But I asked them, ‘What are the allegations, because we haven’t seen any.
“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 said.
He said the development underscored deeper concerns about the fairness and transparency of the party’s nomination process.
“But you can know from our pedigree that the disqualification wasn’t the right word to use for us because we are germane in this thing. We are the veterans! You can see for yourself that where you have disqualified people like us in any contest, where do we go from there?” he added.
Omisore voiced confidence that the National Working Committee would revisit the matter and potentially reverse the decision, pointing to what he called growing signs of factionalism within the Osun APC.
“As a person, I look forward to good things in my life. The NWC, in their own wisdom, have the list of members of the party, and we have over 13,000 members of the party who are financiers.
