APC: How The Struggle For 2026 Guber Cost Omisore His Seat

By Segun Ojo, Ilesa

The removal of Senator Iyiola Omisore as the National Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) may have the undertone of the politics of who picks the party’s ticket for the Osun governorship poll in 2026.

Elected at the party’s March 27 Convention, Omisore’s four years tenure as the APC’s national scribe was cut short with his purported resignation announced by the Deputy National Chairman (North), Senator Abubakar Kyari, at a meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party in Abuja on Monday.

Insinuations, mostly on social media platforms, have attributed the removal of Omisore, which was done alongside that of the National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, to financial impropriety

But away from the insinuations, feelers have hinted that the Omisore was eased out of his position in the APC to wither his chance at clinching the party’s ticket for the 2026 governorship poll. Omisore has a longtime aspiration to govern Osun state, and the former deputy governor is believed to be counting on his position as the national secretary to get the APC ticket to actualize his governorship aspiration.

In Imo state, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who is the National Secretary of main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) clinched the party’s ticket to contest the state’s governorship seat in the November poll, and Omisore, according to feelers from is camp, is also considering to take similar route to try his luck for the Osun governorship seat under the platform of the APC in 2026.

Although, subtle and only known to close confidants, but former Osun state governor, Gboyega Oyetola got wind of the former deputy governor’s intention and took steps to frustrate his plans. Oyetola had lost re-election in the 2022 poll, and still nurses the ambition to return to the Bola Ige House by contesting the 2026 governorship election on the platform of the APC.

According to an insider, Oyetola began to grew wary of Omisore shortly after the presidential election when the Ife born politician literally took up the advocacy against using the court to hijack Osun state from Governor Ademola Adeleke.

The source said Oyetola was taken aback after Omisore cautioned against manipulating the courts to take back Osun from Adeleke as vigorously pushed by the former governor and some of his lieutenants in a meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Abuja during the pendency of litigation on the governorship poll.

“From that meeting, Oyetola knew something was off but could not say what exactly was until recently when he found out that Omisore is putting up mechanism in place to be the APC flagbearer in 2026 leveraging on the office of the national secretary,” a close ally of Oyetola who does not want his name in print hinted.

The finding, the source noted, miffed Oyetola who feared Omisore may block his path to the APC ticket in 2026 if he remains the national scribe of the party before the primary, and activated steps to get him out of the position.

It was at this point, the source stressed, that the fate of Omisore to leave the NWC was sealed, even though Oyetola maintained an outlook that suggested all was well between them.

The plot, an APC chieftain in Osun told our reporter, was however not an easy sell to President Tinubu, who though want the national chairman, Adamu out, favoured Omisore to retain his position going by the role he played in his emergence as the party’s presidential candidate.

But Oyetola got his way through another former governor in the state, Chief Bisi Akande, who the chieftain said have a sore past with Omisore, to persuade Tinubu to include the former deputy governor in the purge at the APC’s NWC.

“From the start, the plan was to get Adamu out, but in-between, Omisore was dragged in to disrupt his plan for the 2026 governorship race. Initially, Asiwaju (Tinubu) was not buying the idea of pushing Omisore out of the NWC, but changed his mind after Baba Akande weighed in,” the chieftain noted.

“As all of these was going on, Omisore was left in the dark, and he was banking on the impression that the President (Tinubu) has his back. That was why he attended the NWC meeting before he was excused because he never thought he would be asked to go.”

The treatment meted to Omisore is causing ripple among his bloc of the APC in Osun state, as many loyalists expressed disgust at the manner in which the former senator was eased out of office.

A loyalist who spoke to this reporter on the development, said Omisore was unfairly targeted by those who are intimidated by his increasing acceptability in the APC, warning that “the removal of Omisore pose a grave danger to any effort to revive the party in Osun to challenge the PDP.”

“It is unimaginable that given Omisore’s loyalty and commitment to the APC, some people will think the way to reward him is to force him out of office just because he has governorship ambition. Is having ambition now a crime or they are saying Omisore isn’t qualified?” he asked rhetorically.