APC disqualifies Omisore, Alabi, four others from Osun governorship primary, clears only two aspirants

By Johnson Arua

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has disqualified former Deputy Governors Senator Iyiola Omisore and Benedict Olugboyega Alabi, along with four other aspirants, from participating in the party’s December 13, 2025 Osun governorship primary.

Also barred from the race are Dotun Babayemi, Akin Ogunbiyi, Senator Babajide Omoworare, Kunle Adegoke (SAN), and Babatunde Haketer Oralusi.

In its report submitted on Friday to the party’s Organisation Department, the seven-member Screening Committee chaired by Barrister Obinna Uzor confirmed that only two aspirants, Hon. Mulikat Adeola Jimoh and Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, fully met all requirements to contest the primary.

According to the committee, both candidates “fulfilled regulatory conditions as stipulated by the party’s guidelines, the Constitution and the Electoral Act,” earning them full clearance.

The panel, however, referred the six disqualified aspirants to the National Working Committee (NWC) for a final review and possible clearance before the shadow election.

The committee explained in its six-page report, signed by all members, that its decision was influenced by a petition from the Osun APC Renewal Group. The petition sought the disqualification of two aspirants for failing to meet the mandatory nominator requirements set by the APC Constitution and the primary guidelines.

“Upon careful review, the Committee found the issues raised in the petition to be weighty, substantial and germane to the integrity of the screening process,” the panel stated, adding that it applied the same standard of scrutiny to all nine aspirants in the interest of fairness and internal party democracy.

The committee said it examined whether each aspirant was properly nominated by the required number of fully registered, financially compliant party members from all Local Government Areas, as stipulated in Articles 9.3(i) and 31.2(ii) of the APC Constitution and Paragraph 6(c) of the 2025 Governorship Primary Guidelines.

At the end of the two-day exercise, only Jimoh and Oyebamiji were found to have “satisfactorily met all constitutional and guideline requirements.”

The committee noted that Senators Omisore and Omoworare, as well as Babayemi, Ogunbiyi, Alabi, Adegoke, and Oralusi, failed to meet the mandatory condition of being nominated by at least five financially up-to-date party members from each local government area.

Meanwhile, the Screening Appeal Committee chaired by Senator Tola Odebiyi is scheduled to sit on Saturday in Abuja to hear petitions from the seven disqualified aspirants and other aggrieved stakeholders.