A major showdown looms in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun state as former governor in the state, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, and a former deputy governor, Otunba Iyiola Omisore, hatched a move to ease out a former senator, Dr. Ajibola Basiru, as the National Secretary of the party, this paper have learned.
The duo of Oyetola and Omisore, it was gathered, are moving against Basiru who was elevated to the position of the National Secretary of the APC in August last year, to disrupt his plan to seek the governorship seat in Osun in 2026.
Basiru is reported to be nurturing aspiration for the Osun top job and already putting up political structures to actualize it, which a knowledgeable source in the party said upsets Oyetola, who is angling to contest the 2026 governorship election on the platform of the APC.
By 2026, Oyetola will be 74 years old and the oldest to contest for governorship in Nigeria’s political history, which the source said informed the insistence of Basiru to contest under the APC as the former governor will be too old for the demand of the office should he win the poll.
The source noted that Oyetola is uncomfortable with the continued stay of Basiru in his current position, which is believed to hold enormous influence in deciding where the pendulum of the party’s ticket swings.
“Oyetola is not prepared to take any chance with Basiru and shared his concerns with his close allies at a meeting in Lagos recently,” the source said, adding that “when some of his allies tried to persuade Oyetola to give Basiru the benefit of doubt, he reminded them of how he (Basiru) ditched Rauf (Aregbesola) to align with his camp to retain senatorial ticket.”
It was, at that point, the source noted, that the meeting agreed with the proposition of Oyetola and suggested moving subtly for the plan to succeed. “One of the strategies to adopt is to insulate Oyetola from any fallout in the plot, which brought Omisore into the picture to drive the push for Basiru’s removal from the APC’s National Working Committee (NWC),” the source divulged to this newspaper.
Omisore was unceremoniously eased out of office as APC National Secretary to make way for Basiru and the former senator, it was learned, is yet to get over the circumstance of his removal.
The feeling, the source noted, was leveraged by Oyetola to get Omisore’s buy-in on Basiru’s removal as APCNational Secretary, which is already set in motion.
The source said Omisore is tapping on his contacts within the party in Osun and Abuja to sell the idea of the removal of Basiru to them and will possibly have his way unless there is an intervention from top leaders.
“From what I know, Ajibola (Basiru) is in for a tough ride because the collusion between Oyetola and Omisore may throw him out of his current position. Although Oyetola is not showing his hand, he was the architect of the plot that Omisore is spearheading to push Basiru out of office,” the source noted.
“It is all about 2026 but unfortunately for Omisore, he does not see that he is being used by Oyetola for his ambition. Maybe the misgivings that Omisore has for his exit and replacement with Basiru served into Oyetola’s hand. That is politics for you.”
By 2026, Oyetola will be 74 years old and the oldest to contest for governorship in Nigeria’s political history, which the source said informed the insistence of Basiru to contest under the APC as the former governor will be too old for the demand of the office should he win the poll.
