- Tinubu’s Cousin Pressurised Screening C’ttee Chair To Disqualify Us For His ‘Poster-Boy’ – Omisore
- Cleared Female Aspirant Stooge For Oyebamiji – Oralusi
- Claims We Weren’t Sponsored By Financial Members Unfounded – K-RAD
A crisis is currently brewing within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State following the disqualification of seven gubernatorial aspirants by the screening committee of the party ahead of the December 13 primary election.
Those disqualified include Sen. Iyiola Omisore, Babatunde Haketer Oralusi, Oyedotun Babayemi, Akin Ogunbiyi, former Deputy Governor Benedict Alabi, Kunle Adegoke (SAN) and Babajide Omoworare.
OSUN DEFENDER reports that the screening committee chaired by Obinna Uzoh, in its report, stated that the disqualified aspirants failed to meet the party’s mandatory nomination criteria, especially the requirement to present sponsorship by at least five fully registered and financially up-to-date party members from each Local Government Area in Osun State.
The committee said, “The issues raised were weighty, substantial, and germane to the integrity of the screening process. In the interest of fairness and transparency, the concerns could not be applied selectively.
“Every aspirant was subjected to the same scrutiny.”
The committee, however, cleared two aspirants, Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji and Mulikat Abiola Jimoh, to contest the primary.
Following the announcement, loyalists of the disqualified aspirants took to social media to express their disappointment in what they tagged a hatchet job.’
The supporters claimed some people in the party were behind the disqualification of their preferred aspirants to favour one of the two cleared aspirants – Bola Oyebamiji, an insinuation that was later corroborated by Omisore.
- Tinubu’s Cousin Pressurised Screening Chair To Disqualify Us For His ‘Poster Boy’, Oyebamiji – Omisore
The immediate National Secretary of the APC, Senator Iyiola Omisore, while speaking on his disqualification alongside the six others, accused the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola of being behind the development.
Omisore said Oyetola, who is the cousin of President Bola Tinubu, pressurised the screening committee chairman to disqualify them for Mr Bola Oyebamiji whom he described as the former Osun State governor’s ‘lackey.’
Omisore, while addressing journalists in Abuja alongside the six other barred aspirants, rejected the grounds for disqualification, saying none of the aspirants had been formally notified of any specific infractions.
He described the screening committee’s report as the joke of 2025, noting that disqualifying them points to doom for the party.
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.
“The chairman of the panel, on the first day, reached out to us that Mr Gboyega Oyetola called him that he must disqualify all of us because his poster boy, Bola Oyebamiji, is the one he wants.”
He also questioned the committee’s claim that some aspirants lacked the required number of nominators, noting that the party leadership had full 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.
- Document Announcing Our Disqualification Forged – Oralusi
Another disqualified aspirant, Oralusi said the document that disqualified him and the others was forged.
Oralusi, while speaking on a national TV programme on Saturday, also said Dr. Abiola is a stooge who would step down for Oyebamiji to emerge as the candidate of the APC in the December 13 primary elections.
He said, “The report barring me from contesting the gubernatorial primary of our party was forged 100 per cent. I can say that categorically and I have evidence. The document that came out was not what the screening committee submitted. At the right time, it will be put forward.
“We, the aspirants, have a forum, and we met for almost three months and had consultations with the leaders; there was nobody called Mulikat during this period.
“Everybody knew about Mulikat a day before we bought the form. This Mulikat is a stooge of some group, and the game is very simple; two people are cleared, one person will withdraw on the last day, and the other person will emerge. Mulikat and the other aspirant are from the same camp.”
- Claims We Weren’t Sponsored By Financial Members Untrue, Unfounded – Adegoke
Also, Kunle Adegoke, SAN, said the claim that they were not sponsored by financially registered members was untrue.
Adegoke, while addressing the press, said apart from buying delegate forms for the APC members with N8.3 million, the aspirants also paid the APC members’ membership dues to the tune of N996,000.
He said, “We are not in a protest match. We are not launching a fight. We are here to meet the lawfully constituted Appeal Committee of the party. The rules and the constitution of the APC require that after the screening committee has completed its job, anybody who is dissatisfied with the outcome can approach the Appeal committee.
“We are here to say that the reason and the conclusion reached by the screening committee are both incorrect. The reason given by the screening committee for disqualifying seven of us was that we did not meet the requirement of being sponsored by fully registered and financial members of the party and we said this is not correct.
“By the document we submitted to the screening committee, it is evident that the people who signed for us were registered members of the party who duly paid their membership fees.
“For instance, when we bought the forms, we were told to pay for delegates’ dues, and we got five members of the party per ward as required. Aside from buying delegate forms for them with N8.3 million each, we also paid their membership dues for which each of us paid N996,000. If we know select 155 among these people to represent the 30 Local Governments and one Area Council, and these people now sign our nomination forms, how can you say that we did not have five members from each local government?”
- Oyetola Didn’t Interfere in Osun APC Screening – Aide
The Special Adviser to the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Bolaji Akinola, has rejected claims by governorship aspirant Senator Iyiola Omisore that Minister Adegboyega Oyetola interfered in the Osun State APC governorship screening process, describing them as “baseless and misleading.”
In a statement on Sunday, Akinola insisted the allegations were “totally false,” stressing that Oyetola had no involvement, direct or indirect, in the decisions of the party’s screening committee ahead of the December 13 primary.
“Dr. Oyetola did not, and could not have, meddled in the screening exercise or the affairs of the Screening Committee and the Screening Appeal Panel,” he said.
Akinola noted that both bodies operate independently under the APC Constitution and are free from external influence.
He further highlighted Oyetola’s commitment to fairness, transparency, and party rules, stressing that he would never interfere in a process where he has no statutory role.
Akintola urged aspirants to use the party’s official channels for grievances and reaffirmed the minister’s dedication to the unity and stability of the APC in Osun State.
Political observers say the situation in Osun reflects a broader problem across Nigeria’s major parties, where internal democracy is increasingly being eroded by power struggles and elite control.
They point to the crisis rocking the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, where internal conflicts and defections, including the open rebellion led by former Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, have continued to destabilise the party.
Wike, now a minister in the APC-led Federal Government, has been widely accused by PDP leaders of working against the interests of his former party after falling out with its national leadership.
His actions and the inability of the party’s hierarchy to resolve its internal crisis, have left the PDP weakened in several states.
Observers in various interviews with OSUN DEFENDER argue that the failure of party leaders, including at the national level, to enforce discipline and protect internal democratic processes has emboldened factional leaders to manipulate structures for personal gain.
With both the ruling party and the opposition grappling with internal instability, analysts warn that Nigeria risks sliding into a system where political parties no longer reflect the will of their members, but the interests of a powerful few.
Kazeem Badmus is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience. A professional in journalism and media writing, Kazeem prioritses accuracy and factual reportage of issues. He is also a dexterous finder of the truth with conscious delivery of unbiased and development oriented stories.
