How Oyetola and Others Allegedly Edged Out Omisore from Gubernatorial Race

The puzzle began with an empty seat. Seven aspirants walked into a meeting with the president. One stayed away. That absence shaped the story more than any handshake inside the Villa.

 emerged quickly. President Bola Tinubu hosted APC hopefuls from Osun and urged them to avoid factional quarrels that once cost the party valuable ground. By the end of the meeting, the aspirants aligned behind Bola Oyebamiji as the consensus candidate for the 2026 race.

Their withdrawal created a clean path for the former NIWA managing director. It also deepened the shadow over Iyiola Omisore, who had been disqualified days earlier by the screening committee. Officials cited a failure to secure the required number of financially updated nominators from all local governments.

Omisore rejected that explanation. He called the process a joke and accused the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, of shaping the screening outcome. The allegation was the latest from the long-standing rivalries inside the Osun APC.

The timing was curious. A list of nine aspirants collapsed to two after the verdict of a committee chaired by Obinna Uzor. Only Oyebamiji and Mulikat Jimoh met the criteria. The rest were told their paperwork failed internal tests that many party members consider technical rather than political.

Omisore saw a pattern. His allies argued that disqualification served as the real primary, with the Villa meeting merely confirming the direction already chosen. His decision to boycott the session with the president strengthened that reading and drew attention to the gap between the party’s public language of unity and its private arithmetic of influence.

Yet, after initial rejection, Omisore later signalled support for Tinubu’s choice, evidence that the man understands that in Osun politics, survival most times requires adjustment.

The consensus announcement closes one chapter, although unanswered questions linger. An empty seat can be louder than a crowded room, and the echoes may influence the political colour of the months ahead