Oyindamola Talabi
THERE is a cold war between the National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Iyiola Omisore and former governor of the State of Osun, Adegboyega Oyetola, OSUN DEFENDER learnt.
The cold war, it was gathered, is not unconnected with the struggle to control APC in the state and the alleged misappropriation of the funds released by the national secretariat of the party for Omisore for the July 16, 2022 governorship election.
Credible sources confided in OSUN DEFENDER that Oyetola was bitter and found it disappointing that Omisore could allegedly corner 70 per cent of the funds released to him to prosecute the governorship election.
According to the sources, Oyetola was also alleging Omisore of positioning himself to contest the 2026 governorship election under the APC, and thereby allegedly worked against him during the lifespan of his petition against the declaration of Sen. Ademola Adeleke as the winner of the governorship election.
The sources disclosed that Omisore’s governorship ambition infuriated Oyetola and some loyalists of the President-elect, Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who have all reportedly made moves to ‘humble’ the former deputy governor of the State of Osun.
They confided in the medium that the ‘Tinubu’s camp’ of the APC are behind the call for Omisore’s removal as the national secretary of the party by the National Vice Chairman of the APC, North-West, Dr. Salihu Lukman.
Lukman had been accusing Omisore of destabilising APC further in the State of Osun, instead of uniting members of the party.
He alleged that the party scribe mismanaged the campaign funds handed over to him by the party for last year’s governorship election and also refused to give account of the money, maintaining that Omisore has failed in terms of stabilising Osun and uniting the people.
Lukman submitted that Omisore needs to vacate his seat in order to stabilise APC in the state.
Two top members of the IleriOluwa camp of APC in Osun told OSUN DEFENDER that Oyetola is sensitive to every political move of Omisore and did not want to give a chance for him to own the party.
“Omisore is attempting to takeover the party, and oga (Oyetola) is very aware of his move. Oyetola is the leader of the party in Osun, but Omisore is trying to outsmart everybody because of his 2026 governorship ambition. We will be stupid to just allow him rob us of the party structure”, said one of Oyetola’s loyalists.
However, Omisore, according to some of his political followers, was not happy with the way Oyetola is running the affairs of the APC in the state.
According to them, Oyetola has not been giving due courtesy to Omisore in the administration of the party.
One of Omisore’s staunch supporters who identified himself as Sunday said: “One thing we find difficult to believe is the claim that Oyetola is the leader of the APC in Osun, that is where the problem lies. How would you say a former governor is a leader of a party when a national secretary of that party is alive and functioning well?
“All of us are one but the way these people are doing things, it is like they are feeling threatened by Apesin. As far as party hierarchy is concerned, Apesin is the leader of APC in Osun. He is the national secretary of the party; he should be given due respect.
“Oyetola has been running the party’s affairs without consulting him (Omisore), that is wrong. We need to work as one family.”
OSUN DEFENDER noted that supporters of the former governor have taken to their various Facebook accounts to declare him as the leader of the party in the State, while some of Omisore’s followers have also declared him as the leader of the APC in Osun.
