By Newspot Nigeria Politics Desk
There is no gainsaying that seven gubernatorial aspirants including Otunba Iyiola Omisore were unjustly screened out by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja last week to clear the path for the former NIWA Managing Director, Mr. Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, ahead of the 2026 governorship election.
It is a matter of public record that Mr. Oyebamiji served as Commissioner for Finance under Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola during the infamous era of half salaries and non-payment of contributory pensions, and was reappointed by Governor Gboyega Oyetola as the Commissioner for finance to continue the same anti-workers policy. Imposing such a figure on the party at the expense of more seemingly credible aspirants exposes the deep rot and structural injustice entrenched in the APC’s internal mechanism.
THE NINE APC GOVERNORSHIP ASPIRANTS
- Iyiola Omisore – Former PDP
- Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji (AMBO) – Core APC
- Babatunde Hareter Oralusi – Core APC
- Dotun Babayemi – Former PDP
- Akinade Akanmu Ogunbiyi – Former PDP
- Kunle Rasheed Adegoke (SAN) – Core APC
- Mulikat Abiola Jimoh(Iya AMBO)- Core APC
- Benedict Gboyega Alabi – Core APC
- Babajide Omoworare – Core APC.
Out of these nine aspirants, six are core APC members, while three, Omisore, Babayemi and Ogunbiyi migrated from the PDP after claiming they were victims of an alleged injustice in their former political party.
My concern today is not with the APC loyalists who are “Babasọpe” by default but my concern lies with those who once fought passive injustice in the PDP but now willingly swallowed a deeper injustice in the APC.
Historical Context: PDP’s Era of Crisis.
In 2015, the Osun PDP split into two factions when some leaders ganged up to dispossess Otunba Iyiola Omisore of the party’s structure. The crisis lasted until the Adeleke political dynasty returned in 2017 to contest for the Osun West Senatorial bye-election. When it became clear that the PDP structure would slip from Omisore and Kabiyesi Bayo Faforiji to the other group, led by the late Hon. Olasoji Adagunodo, Omisore, and his loyalists defected to the SDP, labeling the situation as injustice.
He contested the 2018 governorship election under the banner of SDP and finished third.
In the controversial rerun that produced Gboyega Oyetola, it was Omisore’s support that the APC desperately needed. As the street wisdom goes:
“If you dagger me, I will gas you too.”
Ironically, if he had waited and supported the PDP at that critical moment, he might have been the next governor after the Imole administration completed its 8 years.
Even after delivering victory to the APC, the party still discarded him like used tissue paper. His recent instruction to his followers not to participate in the kangaroo delegates’ congress confirmed his old resilience.
Omisore has never been a chicken until now.
But Are Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi and Omooba Dotun Babayemi now little livered?
These two men once stood firmly against alleged injustice in the PDP, so why the sudden silence in the APC? Hypocrisy!
I was shocked to see Omooba Dotun Babayemi, a supposed nobleman, a justice crusader, a man who traversed 299 of 332 wards of Osun State, now embracing the same injustice he once detested.
Is this the same Omooba who defeated Dr. Ogunbiyi at the WOCDIF factional congress in 2022?
The same man now preaches “party supremacy” in the APC?
Wonders shall never end.
As for Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi, he fought tooth and nail in 2018/2019 against what he called PDP injustice. I was deeply involved in that struggle, risking my relationships, safety, peace, and even encountering threats from security personnel assigned to political figures.
The price of that struggle is etched in my memory.
If a man who fought so fiercely before can now stay silent in the face of a more brazen injustice despite his wealth, connections, and influence then something fundamental has shifted, and it is not in favour of courage rather, the opposite.
As Rev. Bunmi Jenyo once advised me when i reported to have been attached to his ministry as a Senior Special Assistant:
“Apesin, stop being emotional in politics.”
You are a fighter but always take things easy, especially within the same political family. wisdom! He narrated his own experience with Omisore and Oyinlola on how to manage issues within the same family. You are a party person, no doubt.
This level of surrender in the APC by my brothers is baffling.
My message to Otunba Iyiola Omisore
Your initial directive to your followers to boycott the APC’s sham delegate congress was commendable. Your refusal to attend the Aso Rock meeting also restored hope in your principled politics.
But your later interview, which circulated widely late last night, was a disappointing reversal.
You would have remained a model of courage and a leader for the future. But your sudden capitulation undermines the political heritage of Ifeland.
You are the only leader from the source of the Yoruba race who commands national respect across parties. With your recent retreat, who will negotiate the political future of Ile-Ife under this Tinubu administration?
Before Governor Ademola Adeleke’s recent interventions, Ile-Ife, the cradle of the Yoruba, looked like a forgotten ancient ruin. Now we see:
the 10-span Lagere flyover,
the dualisation of Iremo, Enuwa Palace Road, Moore, Aladanla to Alakowe Road under construction and revitalized infrastructure is long overdue.
What is the APC offering you that surpasses the transformation currently going on in Ifeland?
What could they promise you that would uplift your people more than visible development already underway?
I pity my brothers who staked their lives for you, especially my good Egbon, Jamiu Olawumi, and others, now demystified by the AMBO structure simply because they believed in you.
This legacy of sudden cowardice is not worthy of your name, sir.
I rest my case for now.
To Otunba Iyiola Omisore, Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi, and Omooba Dotun Babayemi, the three former PDP men who rejected injustice in the PDP but now embrace a worse form in the APC,
good afternoon, sirs.
And happy Thursday.
Signed:
Apesin-Abiodun Adegoke
Coordinator, Concerned Citizens of Nigeria
10/12/2025
The views and opinions expressed in this statement are entirely those of the author’s, Apesin-Abiodun Adegoke, and do not represent the position of Newspot Nigeria, its editors, or its affiliates.
