Osun APC Primary: ‘My disqualification is a joke’, Omisore tells screening panel

…says Oyetola forced panel chairman to disqualify them

The crisis surrounding the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary in Osun State escalated on Saturday as Senator Iyiola Omisore, speaking on behalf of six disqualified aspirants, dismissed the screening panel’s report as “the jokest report of the year,” accusing the committee of bias and political manipulation.

The APC screening panel had disqualified seven out of the nine aspirants who appeared before it. But Omisore, one of the affected aspirants, rejected the decision and questioned the credibility of the entire process.

“Well, that panel report is the jokest report of the year,” he said.

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“It is quite unfortunate that people have taken partisanship beyond politics.

“We are aware that the panel members have two, three reports. The one taken to the secretariat wasn’t the original report.”

He added that none of the disqualified aspirants had been officially informed of the reasons for their exclusion.

“As we speak today, none of us has seen their report and why we were disqualified,” he stated.

“From our pedigree, you should know the disqualification wasn’t the right word to use for us because we are germane in this thing. We are the veterans!”

Omisore argued that screening out long-standing party stakeholders amounted to political self-sabotage.

“You can see for yourself that where you have disqualified people like us in any contest, where do we go from there? The party is pointing at failure,” he said.

The former National lawmaker alleged that the screening panel chairman confided in them that Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, pressured him to disqualify all the aspirants except one.

“The chairman of the panel told us that Minister Gboyega Oyetola called him that they must disqualify all of us because he wants his lackey, his poster boy, Oyebamiji,” he said.

When pressed further on whether the panel chairman indeed made the claim, Omisore insisted: “Yes, he told us that he was under pressures. Unfortunately, we are in it together.”

While some of the aspirants are expected to appear before the appeal panel, Omisore, who has already met the committee, said the grounds for their disqualification remain unclear.

“I am the only one that has met them, but we have the same reservations,” he explained. “I asked them, what are the allegations? Because we haven’t seen any. We haven’t been written. So what are the basis of the disqualification?”

He dismissed the claim that they failed to produce adequate nominators.

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“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,” he argued.

The screening report includes a clause empowering the National Working Committee (NWC) to overrule the disqualification.

Asked what their next step would be if the NWC fails to do so, Omisore expressed optimism and challenged the premise of the question.

“You can’t shave my head for me. Why don’t you say the NWC will cancel the report of the panel?” he said.

“Why are you pessimistic? As a person, I look forward to good things in my life.”

He added that the party leadership is fully aware of the structure and financial strength of members across Osun.

“The NWC in their own wisdom 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.” ’ Omisore warned that the party’s growing internal divisions could jeopardise its chances at the polls.

“Even in your report today, what did you write there?” he asked. “You reported that the party is factionalised. Even the committee wrote there that the party is likely to lose the election. So what are you talking about?”

He clarified that former governorship aspirant Omooba Dotun Babayemi was not part of the joint reaction.

The APC leadership has yet to respond to these allegations as tension heightens ahead of the primary

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