Iyiola Omisore, the former National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has accepted President Bola Tinubu’s choice of former Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) Bola Oyebamiji as the party’s consensus candidate for the 2026 governorship election in Osun state.
Speaking during an appearance on TVC’s Politics Tonight on Wednesday, the former deputy governor said his loyalty to the party and to the president remained more important than his personal ambition, adding that once the president had taken a stand, he had no choice but to follow it.
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He however said that a consensus candidate should come through genuine agreement among party members, not through the removal of stronger aspirants.
He said, “the Electoral Act allows for direct, indirect, and consensus candidatures”. He, however, added, “when you want to do consensus, you build consensus around the candidate – that is – obtain opinions among people about the most popular candidate.”
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Yesterday
He is aware that I have ment
Expressing his dissatisfaction with the process that led to his disqualification, he said the exercise lacked transparency and went beyond what the Electoral Act permits.
He believes he would have won the primary if allowed to contest. He also dismissed claims that his political weight comes from spending money. According to him, his support has been built over many years and is not tied to handouts.
He added, “Only when you have a popular candidate that people start kicking against, that’s when you see people being disqualified. But they are afraid that the candidate being chosen is not popular.”
Despite his grievances, he said he accepted the outcome of Mr Tinubu’s intervention leading to the choice of Mr Oyebamiji as the party’s candidate.
“In this case, we have a leader. Since Mr. President has agreed that he’s going this way, you have to follow,” he said, although he was absent from the meeting where Mr Tinubu met with the governorship aspirants from the state on Wednesday in Abuja to pick a consensus candidate.
When asked if his absence from the meeting implied harbouring grievances against Mr Tinubu, he answered in the negative. He explained further that the immediate-past governor of Osun State and current Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, who “coordinated” the meeting, was aware that he earlier met and shared his stance on the matter with the president.
He insisted that Mr Oyetola, believed to be one of the strong backers of Mr Oyebamiji, had no authority to impose a candidate on the party.
Why I deserve the ticket – Omisore
Explaining why he expected fair treatment from the party, Mr Omisore recalled the 1998 governorship race in which he stepped down for Adebisi Akande, then the most senior aspirant in Alliance for Democracy (AD) in Osun State. He said he acted out of respect for seniority and party order.
“I was the youngest of the aspirants at that time,” he said. When top party figures agreed to back Akande, “we have to respect leadership and we have to step down. So, interestingly, I just did.”
He argued that by the same standard of seniority, he should now be the rallying point in the APC Osun governorship election.
“Ordinarily now, among all the aspirants… I’m the most senior of all of them, most experienced of all of them,” he said.
He also pushed back suggestions that his political history works against him, saying experience should not be seen as a burden.
“If I’m going for the primary, I won’t have had less than 80% of the votes. People who have supported me… since 1999… they are organic supporters. It’s not money,” he said.
Background
Trouble began with the party’s screening exercise for the governorship primary when only two aspirants made it through. Seven others, including Mr Omisore, were disqualified. The scale of the disqualification immediately drew attention, as most of the well-known contenders were affected.
The screening panel said those dropped failed to meet the requirement of securing nomination from party members across all local government areas. Many aspirants disagreed, arguing that the rule was not applied fairly and that the process had been influenced by forces outside the state.
As the tension grew, President Tinubu, the leader of the party, invited some of the aspirants to Abuja for a meeting. While a few of them later said they had resolved their issues after the discussion, Mr Omisore remained one of the most vocal critics of the screening outcome.
He insisted the process was flawed and accused some individuals of feeding the president incomplete information. He however maintained that the president should not be blamed for decisions taken based on what he was told.
READ ALSO: Osun 2026: Governor Adeleke emerges Accord’s governorship candidate
Omisore’s political career
Mr Omisore began his political journey in 1998, during Nigeria’s transition from military rule. He was closely involved in the formation of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), a party formed by a bloc of champions of Yoruba interests, in Nigeria’s South-west.
In 1999, he became Deputy Governor of Osun State under Governor Adebisi Akande, serving until 2003. His tenure was marked by political tensions with the governor, which culminated in his removal
During this period, Mr Omisore was also arrested and charged in connection with the 2001 assassination of former Attorney-General Bola Ige, a case in which he was later acquitted in 2004 for lack of sufficient evidence
Despite this setback, Mr Omisore successfully ran for the Senate in 2003, representing Osun East, and was re-elected in 2007. During his eight years in the Senate, he held key committee positions, including chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
After leaving the Senate, Mr Omisore pursued the governorship of Osun State, contesting elections in 2014 and 2018 under different parties but falling short of victory. In 2021, he joined the APC, quickly rising to national prominence as the party’s National Secretary. He resigned in May 2023 amid crises in the party.
