Former Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, has denied allegations that he exerted influence over the process that led to the disqualification of several governorship aspirants ahead of the state’s All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election.
The controversy arose on Friday when the APC Screening Committee barred Senator Iyiola Omisore and six other aspirants from the December 13 primary, citing inconsistencies and shortcomings in their submitted nomination documents.
Those disqualified alongside Omisore include former Deputy Governor Benedict Alabi, former Presidential Aide Babajide Omoworare, Senior Advocate of Nigeria Kunle Adegoke, businessman Dotun Babayemi, insurance expert Akin Ogunbiyi, and Babatunde Oralusi.
Omisore, who previously served as APC National Secretary, immediately rejected the committee’s decision, calling the report “the joke of the year.”
After presenting his case to the Screening Appeal Panel in Abuja on Saturday, Omisore accused Oyetola of meddling in the exercise to unfairly benefit one of the cleared aspirants, Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji.
Omisore went on to claim that the Screening Committee Chairman admitted to being pressured, stating:
The chairman of the panel told us that Minister Gboyega Oyetola called him and said they must disqualify all of us because he wants his lackey, his poster boy, Oyebamiji. He told us he was under pressure. Unfortunately, we are in it together,” Omisore alleged.
However, Oyetola’s camp has vehemently dismissed the allegation. In a Sunday statement, Dr. Bolaji Akinola, Special Adviser on Media to the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy (Oyetola), branded the claims as “baseless, misleading and totally false.”
Akinola asserted that Oyetola had no involvement, whether direct or indirect, in the actions or decisions of either the Screening Committee or the Screening Appeal Panel, stressing that these bodies function as “independent organs of the party fully empowered by the APC Constitution.”
“Oyetola did not, and could not have interfered in the screening exercise or in the affairs of the screening bodies,” Akinola said, maintaining that the former governor has consistently championed fairness, transparency, and due process throughout his political life.
He urged the aggrieved aspirants to utilize the party’s established internal channels for resolving complaints and disputes, while appealing for calm among all party stakeholders. Akinola concluded by stating that Oyetola remains dedicated to the unity of the APC in Osun and the general welfare of the state’s population.
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