Iyiola Omisore | File photo
Iyiola Omisore, former national secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has described the report disqualifying him from contesting the party’s primary election in Osun state as the “jokest” report of the year.
On Friday, the APC screening committee barred Omisore and six other aspirants from contesting the Osun governorship primary scheduled for December 13.
The screening committee, chaired by Obinna Uzoh, concluded its sittings on Thursday and transmitted its report to the APC national working committee (NWC) in Abuja on Friday.
The panel said the seven disqualified aspirants did not present proof of sponsorship by at least five fully registered and financially up-to-date party members from each LGA as required by the APC constitution and guidelines.
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Those disqualified were Omisore, Babatunde Haketer Oralusi, Oyedotun Babayemi, Akin Ogunbiyi, Benedict Alabi, Adegoke Rasheed Okiki, and Babajide Omoworare.
Only two aspirants — Mulikat Abiola Jimoh and Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji — were cleared to contest the primary.
Speaking on Saturday after meeting the APC screening appeal panel, Omisore said the chairman of the panel reportedly told them he received a call instructing him to “disqualify all of us”.
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He further claimed that the panel had multiple reports, and that the one submitted to the secretariat “was not the original”.
“We’re in December, abi? That’s the jokest report of this year. It’s so unfortunate that people are taking partisanship beyond politics,” Omisore said.
Omisore added that none of the barred aspirants have seen the report to be informed of the reasons for their disqualification.
“We haven’t been written to. So, what are the bases of the disqualification? You said we didn’t have nominators, five per local government. But the law says, he who alleges must prove. They should have used another method to disqualify us,” he said.
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The former deputy governor of the state added that if people of his pedigree were disqualified from the contest, “that means you’re pointing at failures”.
“But you can know from our pedigree that the disqualification wasn’t the right word to use for us because we are germane in this thing. We are the veterans! You can see for yourself that where you have disqualified people like us in any contest, where do we go from there?” he asked.
“As a person, I look forward to good things in my life. The NWC, in their own wisdom, have the list of members of the party, and we have over 13,000 members of the party who are financiers.
“And all of us aspirants are guilty of the same thing, the same system, the same way. That’s the issue, and it calls for caution.”
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