Osun APC Crisis Deepens as Integrity Group Raises Alarm Over Alleged Engineered Disqualification

The Osun State Integrity Support Group, Osogbo, Osun State, acting on behalf of the Seven Osun State APC Governorship Aspirants, has issued a warning over what it describes as a coordinated effort to unlawfully remove seven aspirants from the 2026 governorship contest.

In a strongly worded statement dated Saturday, 6 December 2025, the group accused key figures within the party of executing a “premeditated and unscrupulous” disqualification process — one they claim the aspirants only discovered after the list was posted on the APC website and circulated through The Punch newspaper.

According to the group, none of the affected aspirants has been formally notified by the party, despite being publicly branded as disqualified. They described the development as a “shocking affront to discipline, dignity and due process.”

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Alleged Plot Linked to National Secretariat Activities

The Integrity Group maintains that the disqualification exercise was orchestrated by “unpatriotic elements” within the APC National Working Committee, allegedly acting on the orders of the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Alhaji Isiaka Oyetola.

According to the group, Oyetola is intent on installing his preferred aspirant — Mr Munirudeen Bola Oyebanji, current Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) — as the party’s flagbearer for the August 2026 governorship election.

Citing insider reports from the APC National Secretariat, the group alleged that certain officials have “mortgaged their conscience for rewards,” and that Oyetola’s associates have even invoked the name of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to give credibility to their plan. They described this as both embarrassing to the President and an act of reckless impersonation.

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Concerns Over Secret Appeal Panel and Missing Notifications

The group also alleged that Oyetola’s loyalists had set up an Appeal Panel whose venue remained undisclosed as of Friday, 5 December 2025.

The seven aspirants, it said, have not received any formal communication inviting them to appear before the panel — a move the group believes is intended to create grounds to later claim the aspirants “failed to show up.”

They described this as part of a calculated attempt to frustrate and demoralise them so as to clear the path for the NIWA MD.

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Questions Raised Over Screening Committee’s Conduct

Attention was also drawn to alleged misconduct within the APC Screening Committee. The chairman, Chief Obinna Uzor, was accused of forging the signatures of Ambassador Usman Bayara and other committee members to pass off a minority report as the official outcome of the 3–4 December screening.

Ambassador Bayara and four other members have reportedly disowned the “illegal document,” insisting they would not be party to any perversion of justice.

The group revealed that the majority report, which contradicts the disqualification, will first be submitted to President Tinubu before being made public.

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Allegations of Electoral Breach by NIWA MD

The statement asserted that Mr Munirudeen Bola Oyebanji has not resigned as NIWA Managing Director as of Saturday, 6 December 2025 — a violation of the Constitution, APC guidelines and the Electoral Act.

It further alleged that Oyetola intends to produce a backdated resignation letter to “manufacture legality where none exists,” should the matter be contested.

The officials reportedly involved in the alleged plot include APC National Secretary, Mr Suraj Ajibola; National Organising Secretary, Alhaji Suleiman Argungu; and Deputy National Organising Secretary, Nze Chidi Duru — none of whom has publicly denied the accusations.

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Aspirants Seek Tinubu’s Urgent Intervention

Representing the seven disqualified aspirants, the Osun State Integrity Support Group called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently intervene through a presidential proclamation that ensures transparency, fairness and equity in the process.

They also urged the President to bar the NIWA MD from participating in the primaries due to the alleged breach of electoral regulations.

The statement was signed by Dr Gbenga Adekunle, Convener of the Osun State APC Integrity Support Group, Osogbo, for and on behalf of the seven aspirants.

As the crisis intensifies, internal tensions within the Osun APC appear poised to escalate further, posing a significant threat to the party’s cohesion ahead of the 2026 governorship election.