Osun 2025: Why screening panel disqualified Omisore, Omoworare, others from APC primaries

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has barred several high-profile politicians — including former deputy governor and immediate past National Secretary of the party, Senator Iyiola Omisore, as well as another former deputy governor, Benedict Olugboyega Alabi — from participating in the December 13, 2025 Osun governorship primary.

Others disqualified are Dotun Babayemi, Akin Ogunbiyi, Senator Babajide Omoworare, Kunle Adegoke (SAN), and Babatunde Haketer Oralusi.

The development was contained in a report submitted on Friday by the seven-member screening committee chaired by Barrister Obinna Uzor. According to the committee, only two aspirants — Hon. Mulikat Adeola Jimoh and Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji — met all requirements and were fully cleared to contest the primary.

The panel explained that both cleared aspirants “fulfilled regulatory conditions as stipulated by the party’s guidelines, the Constitution and the Electoral Act,” earning them complete clearance.

The cases of the six disqualified aspirants have, however, been forwarded to the National Working Committee (NWC) for further review and possible ratification ahead of the shadow election.

In its six-page report, endorsed by all committee members, the panel revealed that its decision was influenced by a petition submitted by the Osun APC Renewal Group, which called for the disqualification of two aspirants on the grounds of failing to meet mandatory nominator requirements outlined in the party constitution.

The committee stated that after reviewing the petition, it found the issues raised to be “weighty, substantial, and germane to the integrity of the screening process.”
To ensure fairness, the same standards were applied to all nine aspirants.

“Accordingly, the Committee extended the same scrutiny to all nine aspirants, ensuring that every sponsor (nominator) of an aspirant was assessed on the basis of compliance with Articles 9.3(i) and 31.2(ii) of the APC Constitution and Paragraph 6(c) of the Guidelines,” the report said.

At the end of the two-day exercise, only Jimoh and Oyebamiji “satisfactorily met all constitutional and guideline requirements of the APC, including proper nomination by the requisite number of fully registered, financially up-to-date party members from each Local Government Area.”

The committee explained that Omisore, Omoworare, Babayemi, Ogunbiyi, Alabi, Adegoke, and Oralusi all failed to meet the mandatory requirement of securing nominations from at least five financially compliant party members in each local government — a condition specified in the APC Constitution and the 2025 Governorship Primary Guidelines.

Meanwhile, the Screening Appeal Committee, chaired by Senator Tola Odebiyi, will meet on Saturday in Abuja to consider appeals from the seven disqualified aspirants and any other aggrieved party members.