Former National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Iyiola Omisore, has condemned his disqualification from the party’s Osun State governorship primary, describing the decision as “a huge joke” and accusing the screening panel of bias, inconsistency, and procedural misconduct.
Omisore spoke in Abuja on Saturday after he and six other disqualified aspirants appeared before the APC Screening Appeal Panel to challenge the decision. The aspirants were barred from participating in the primary scheduled for 13 December, with the Screening Committee citing alleged irregularities in the documentation submitted with their nomination forms.
Those disqualified include Omisore, Babatunde Oralusi, Oyedotun Babayemi, Dr Akin Ogunbiyi, Benedict Alabi, Adegoke Rasheed Okiki, and Senator Babajide Omoworare. According to the Screening Committee, they failed to present evidence of sponsorship by at least five fully registered, financially up-to-date party members in each of Osun’s Local Government Areas, as required under 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—the aspirant widely perceived to have the backing of former Governor and current Minister of Marine Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola—were cleared.
Omisore rejected the committee’s findings outright, alleging that the process was tainted by political interference intended to favour Oyebamiji.
“Well, that panel report is the jokiest report of the year. It is quite unfortunate that people have taken partisanship beyond politics,” Omisore 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 argued that the claim regarding inadequate nominators was baseless, noting that the party leadership had full access to the APC membership register and should therefore be able to verify all submitted names.
“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,” he said. “They should have used another method to disqualify us.”
Omisore suggested that the decision raises broader concerns about internal democracy and transparency within the APC’s nomination processes.
“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 asked.
Despite his frustration, Omisore expressed confidence that the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) would intervene, citing what he described as growing evidence of factional tension within the Osun APC.
“The NWC have the list of members of the party, and we have over 13,000 members who are financiers. And 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 added.
The appeal panel is expected to issue its recommendations in the coming days, with party stakeholders watching closely to see whether the disqualifications will be upheld or overturned.
