By Amofokhai Williams
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has barred seven high-profile aspirants, including former National Secretary Senator Iyiola Omisore, from its December 13 primary election for the Osun State governorship.
The sweeping disqualifications, announced Friday by the party’s Screening Committee, leave just two candidates in the running for the party’s ticket ahead of the August 8, 2026, polls, a decision critics are already decrying as a calculated power play amid deepening factional rifts within the Southwest powerhouse state.
The committee, chaired by legal luminary Chief Obinna Uzoh, delivered its verdict in a six-page report submitted to the APC National Working Committee (NWC) after two days of deliberations at the Amor Hotel in Abuja’s Katampe district.
At the heart of the purge: a stringent enforcement of party rules requiring each aspirant to secure endorsements from at least five fully registered, dues-paying APC members in every one of Osun’s 30 local government areas.
Violations of Articles 9.3(i) and 31.2(ii) of the APC Constitution, coupled with Paragraph 6(c) of the 2025 Governorship Primary Guidelines, proved fatal for the sidelined contenders.
“These issues were weighty, substantial, and germane to the integrity of the screening process,” Uzoh declared in the report, emphasizing that “every aspirant was subjected to the same scrutiny” to ensure fairness.
The panel’s rigour was triggered by a pointed petition from the Osun APC Renewal Group, which initially targeted just two candidates but snowballed into a broader audit after the committee opted against selective enforcement.
“The rules are binding on all members without exception,” Uzoh added, underscoring the panel’s commitment to “upholding internal party democracy.”
Among the fallen is Omisore, a two-term senator (1999–2007) and ex-deputy governor under Olagunsoye Oyinlola, whose 2018 defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC and subsequent rise to national secretary, marked him as a bridge-builder in Osun’s notoriously fractious politics.
Once a kingmaker in the state’s Yoruba heartland, Omisore‘s disqualification is particularly stinging; insiders whisper it stems from lingering bad blood with Governor Ademola Adeleke’s PDP administration and rival APC factions loyal to Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Joined in exile are fellow heavyweights: former Deputy Governor Benedict Alabi; insurance mogul Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi; businessman Dotun Babayemi; Senator Babajide Omoworare; lawyer Adegoke Rasheed Okiki; and entrepreneur Babatunde Oralusi.
Sources close to the aspirants describe the outcome as “politically motivated,” with vows of appeals to the NWC and, if needed, the courts.
The sole survivors? Mulikat Abiola Jimoh, a federal lawmaker and daughter of the late MKO Abiola, whose grassroots mobilization in Ife and Ijesha axes evidently passed muster; and Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, a low-key technocrat backed by Osun’s youth and trader networks.
Their clearance offers a glimmer of continuity for an APC desperate to reclaim Osun after Adeleke’s 2022 upset victory over incumbent Adegboyega Oyetola.
Yet, with the primary now a de facto runoff, questions swirl: Does this streamline the path to victory, or does it alienate the party’s old guard?
