…The party is at a crossroads due to the selection of candidates
…The selection panel was compromised: Omisore, Alabi and 4 more people
…I am not part of colluding —Babayemi
A new crisis is brewing in the All Progressives Congress (APC), following what many of its critical actors described as the brazen manipulation of a selection exercise of aspirants for the party’s candidacy for the 2026 gubernatorial election in Osun State.
The alleged rigging, the Sunday Tribune has learnt, was also frowned upon by some members of the selection committee who were said to have expressed displeasure during the exercise that the move could cost the party next year’s elections.
Apart from six of the seven aspirants allegedly disqualified by the selection committee, other key players are seething with anger, confusion and fear over the dire consequences of what they called the blatant disregard and disregard for due process in what was supposed to be a transparent and uncontroversial exercise.
The exercise, insiders told the Sunday Tribune, is particularly exacerbated by the hatchet job believed to have been carried out by certain party bosses with a preferred candidate option that will only be ratified in an obscure gubernatorial primary.
Sources added that the distorted assessment has created uncertainty over the party’s unity and destiny for the 2026 elections proper, with associates and loyalists of the aggrieved aspirants claiming that those behind the fraudulent assessment exercise were bent on sabotaging APC’s chances so that other major opposition parties in the state could exploit the emerging cracks for political gains.
They stated that the APC would be digging its own grave ahead of the governorship election in Osun State if it fails to justifiably clear up the mess created by the Obinna Uzor-led selection panel immediately.
The apprehension caused by the assessment is said to have spread to the ranks of other major players in the APC at the federal level due to the likely repercussions of the latest fallout in the Osun chapter of the party due to the battle over his gubernatorial bid.
Checks by the Sunday Tribune revealed that though some party bigwigs are trying to assure the aggrieved aspirants and their loyalists to remain calm, the effort is said to be not yielding results as such members insist on fairness and justice from the party leadership.
A divided selection committee
Knowledgeable sources told Sunday Tribune about the stark disagreement among members of the selection committee who insisted that due process be followed to select a credible candidate who can win the elections for the party.
The problems were said to have started when a rumor began to circulate that certain members of the selection committee had been mandated to delay the process.
The agenda, sources claimed, became evident when the chairman of the selection committee for Osun APC gubernatorial aspirants, Chief Uzor, allegedly stated that a senior party boss, who claimed to be acting on the orders of President Bola Tinubu, had ordered the committee to disqualify seven of the nine aspirants seeking the Osun APC gubernatorial candidacy ahead of the primaries.
The announcement was said to have immediately pitted Uzor against other members of the selection committee, who insisted that the process should not be compromised in any way by any individual, no matter how high up he was within the APC.
The secretary of the committee and former Nigerian envoy to China and other countries, Ambassador Usman Baraya, is said to have confronted Uzor over his stance. Baraya reportedly insisted that he valued his name and ancient pedigree to be part of an ax job, a similar arrangement said to have been adopted by other members of the committee including Honorable Raphael Nnanna Igbokwe, Honorable IfeOluwa Arowosoge, Chief Margaret Duru, Princess Frida Odangu and Honorable Ahmed Sani.
The new plot was designed to eliminate only two contestants: the former Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Mr. Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, and Honorable Mulikat Adeola, who allegedly joined the race later than other aspirants.
Those disqualified by the committee are two former deputy governors, Senator Iyiola Omisore and Benedict Olugboyega Alabi; former Senior Special Assistant to the late President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Affairs, Senator Babajide Omoworare; Dr. Akinade Akanmu Ogunbiyi; Adegoke Rasheed Okiki Adekunle (SAN); Babatunde Hareter Oralusi; and Dotun Babayemi.
The committee based its disqualification of the seven aspirants on their failure to comply with the mandatory nomination requirement of being sponsored by five fully registered and financially in good standing members of each local government area, in contravention of Articles 9.3(i) of the APC Constitution and 31.2(ii) of the APC Constitution as well as Paragraph 6(c) of the APC Guidelines for the 2025 Governorship Primaries.
APC courting defeat – Disqualified candidates
Meanwhile, six of the seven aspirants who were disqualified by the Uzoh-led selection committee have warned that the party risks being defeated in the off-season gubernatorial election next August unless the national leadership reverses their disqualification.
The aspirants made the statement on Saturday while speaking to journalists in Abuja, at the Armor Hotel, where they met individually with the selection appeal panel headed by Senator Tolu Odeniyi.
Senator Omisore spoke on behalf of the other five: Alabi, Senator Omoworare, Dr Ogunbiyi, Adegoke (SAN) and Oralusi. But Babayemi refused to appear in the joint interaction with journalists.
Senator Omisore, who spoke on behalf of the other five, dismissed the disqualification as a farce. Omisore, who alleged that a sitting minister pressured Uzoh’s panel to fire them before the December 13 primaries, vowed that the report would not stand.
He said, “Well, that panel report is the joke of the year. It’s quite unfortunate that people have taken partisanship beyond politics. We are aware that the panel members have two or three reports. The one that was taken to the secretariat was not the original report. As we speak today, none of us have looked at your report and seen why we were disqualified. But, you can tell from our background that disqualification was not the right word for us because we are relevant in this. We are the Veterans! You can see for yourself that where people like us have been disqualified in any contest, where do we go from there? The party is aiming for failure and the president of the panel told us that he received a call to disqualify us all.”
In his presentation before the appeal committee, the former APC national secretary said he criticized the premise of his disqualification, like the other six aspirants. “I’m the only one who has met with them. But we have the same reservations. So far, so good, we will all meet with the appeal panel individually. But I asked them: what are the allegations, because we haven’t seen any? They haven’t written to us. So what is the basis of the disqualification? You said we didn’t have five nominators, five per local government. But the law says whoever alleges must prove. They should have used another method to disqualify us.”
When asked about his next course of action, Omisore, who maintained that the party would shoot itself in the foot if it upheld his disqualification, however, told journalists that they are hopeful that the APC National Working Committee will overturn the verdict of the selection panel.
He said: “You can’t shave my head for me. Why don’t you say that the NWC will cancel the panel report? Why are you pessimistic? As a person, I look forward to good things in my life. The NWC, according to its own wisdom, has the list of party members and we have more than 13,000 party members who are financiers. And all of us aspirants are guilty of the same thing, the same system, the same way. That is the problem and demands caution.”
Speaking separately to journalists, Babayemi said he was not interested in a band but would file a formal appeal to ensure that the party leadership, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, overturns his disqualification by the selection panel.
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