Oyetola Denies Influencing APC Screening as Omisore, Six Others Barred from Osun Governorship Race

Former Osun State governor and Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has debunked allegations that he played any role in the disqualification of several All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship aspirants ahead of the party’s December 13 primary election.

The controversy erupted after the APC Screening Committee on Friday disqualified Senator Iyiola Omisore and six other aspirants over what it termed inconsistencies and gaps in their nomination documents.

Those barred from the race include former deputy governor Benedict Alabi; ex-presidential aide Babajide Omoworare; Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Kunle Adegoke; businessman Dotun Babayemi; insurance expert Akin Ogunbiyi; and Babatunde Oralusi.

Omisore, a former APC National Secretary, rejected the committee’s report, calling it “the joke of the year.” Speaking in Abuja after appearing before the Screening Appeal Panel, he accused Oyetola of influencing the process to favour Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, one of the aspirants cleared to contest.

According to him, the screening chairman allegedly admitted to being pressured by the minister.
“The chairman told us that Minister Gboyega Oyetola called him, insisting that all of us must be disqualified so his preferred candidate, Oyebamiji, could sail through,” Omisore claimed.

But Oyetola’s camp has dismissed the allegations as unfounded. In a statement on Sunday, Dr. Bolaji Akinola, Special Adviser on Media to the minister, described Omisore’s claims as “baseless, misleading and totally false.”

Akinola stressed that Oyetola had no contact with either the Screening Committee or the Appeal Panel, adding that both bodies functioned as independent organs of the party in line with the APC Constitution.

“Oyetola did not, and could not have interfered in the screening exercise. He has always upheld fairness, transparency and due process,” the statement read.

The former governor urged aggrieved aspirants to follow the party’s internal dispute-resolution mechanisms and appealed for calm among party members. Akinola added that Oyetola remains committed to the unity of the APC in Osun State and to the well-being of its people.