Powerful interests behind our disqualifications – Omisore alleges

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo –

Former National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and APC governorship aspirant in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has alleged that powerful interests influenced his disqualification and that of six other aspirants from the Osun governorship primary to favour a preferred candidate supported by the presidency.

Speaking after appearing before the APC Appeal Committee in Abuja, Omisore described the disqualification as the biggest joke of the year, alleging that the screening chairman personally informed aspirants that certain figures were pushing for the disqualification of all major contenders to pave the way for a favoured aspirant.

According to him, “The chairman told us from day one that phone calls were coming from everywhere. He told us outright that they want to disqualify all of you because their candidate is from the Villa. So what happened is not surprising.

“People have taken partisanship beyond politics. The committee wrote three contradictory reports—one to the secretary, one to the leadership, and another somewhere else. Even as we speak, none of us has officially received anything.”

The former deputy governor of Osun also faulted 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.

Omisore said that, at the time of addressing reporters, none of the disqualified aspirants was aware of the specific allegations against them, nor had they been provided evidence of non-compliance.

It would be recalled that the APC Screening Committee had disqualified Omisore and six other aspirants from contesting the governorship primary scheduled for December 13, citing alleged irregularities in their nomination forms.

The disqualified aspirants included Omisore, Babatunde Oralusi, Oyedotun Babayemi, Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi, Benedict Alabi, Adegoke Rasheed Okiki, and Senator Babajide Omoworare.