The peace/power-sharing deal by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to foster a united front into the August 15, 2026 Osun governorship election, has collapsed, Sunday Tribune has learnt.

The move was part of the troubleshooting efforts by the leadership of the party in the state to mend fences after a rancorous nominating exercise that led to the emergence of Bola Oyebamiji as the gubernatorial standard bearer of the party.

The highlight of the reconciliation was the targeted reintegration of the supporters of a former deputy governor of the state, Iyiola Omisore into the mainstream of the party following his controversial disqualification from the nomination process despite being the leading aspirant for the ticket.

Following the bad blood trailing Oyebamiji’s emergence, the leadership of the party in the state under the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola reportedly ostracized Omisore’s top surrogates and core supporters statewide, from the affairs of the party and preparations for the governorship election.

The barred aspirant was also kept at arm’s length by the Oyetola-led administration of the party, with the campaign council for Oyebamiji constituted without any inputs from and by the Omisore camp, according to senior operatives of the party.

Still reportedly bitter from his 2022 loss to incumbent governor, Jackson Adeleke, Oyetola, the immediate governor of the state, allegedly vowed he would never have anything politically to do with Omisore again and would prefer his party losing one more time to Adeleke than partnering with the Ife-born politician.

Omisore is considered to have, arguably, the widest reach and influence in Osun politics, and firm control of Ife votes. Oyetola is reportedly blaming his modest 2022 electoral outing in Ife land, comprising four local governments, on Omisore, who as the then national secretary of the ruling party, was expected to put Ife votes in Oyetola’s column by a landslide.

Omisore has publicly defended himself as doing as much as he could do with the resources made available by the then governor. However sensing another defeat, Oyetola backtracked on his promise not to partner Omisore for any election again and reportedly reached out to the second civilian governor of the state and former acting national leader of the party, Chief BisiAkande, to get Omisore to a roundtable.

The meeting took place in Abuja and photos of the trio before and after the meeting were widely shared in the mass media. Photos from the tripartite meeting showed both Oyetola and Omisore looking unenthusiastic, an indication of the tension between them.

Sunday Tribune gathered that after an initial tense exchange between the feuding duo, the mediating elder statesman reportedly got parties to pledge a more harmonious relationship heading into the August poll. A power-sharing deal was also reportedly worked out among the three leaders, regarding the national and state assemblies tickets. After an initial disputation between Omisore and Oyetola over modalities, Sunday Tribune learnt that it was equally agreed by the trio that the consensus agreement be sustained for the rest of the tickets since it began with Oyebamiji’s emergence.

While Oyetola was said to have favoured direct primary for the three senatorial, nine Reps and 26 House of Assembly tickets, Omisore would have none of it, insisting that the goal posts cannot be shifted in the middle of the game.

Eventually, Oyetola reportedly shifted ground, with the meeting, according to a knowledgeable source, agreeing that Omisore should coordinate, along other elders of the senatorial district, Osun East (also known as Ife/Ijesa) nomination process, Oyetola and Akande handling Osun Central where both hail and a collegiate leadership by the three of them using Oyebamiji who is from the zone, in managing the tickets belonging to Osun West. It would mean a senatorial and three Reps’ tickets have been indirectly ceded to the Omisore camp, which was initially asking for two senatorial and five Reps’ tickets.

Trouble however started when Oyetola allegedly left the meeting to instigate a group known as G5 in APC who are decampees from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to thwart the Osun East arrangement and undermine Omisore’s influence in the nomination process.

The G5 has four of Its members from Osun East while the fifth is the senator representing Osun Central, OlubiyiFadeyi-Ajagunla. The Osun East team comprises 84-year-old Senator Fadahunsi (popularly known as Fada) currently representing Osun East and the three members of House of Representatives from the same zone, AjilesoroTaofeek (Ife Central/Ife East/Ife North/Ife South), WoleOke (Obokun/Oriade) and SanyaOmirin (Atakunmosa East/Atakunmosa West, Ilesa East/Ilesa West).

The Osun East National Assembly representatives were said to be targeted recruitments for Oyetola to counter and whittle Omisore’s electoral influence in the zone.

In 2003, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, Omisore won a senatorial election to represent the zone, while in prison for alleged involvement in the murder of Bola Ige, underscoring his influence in the zone.

Courts and Ige’s closest mentee, Chief Akande, eventually cleared Omisore of any complicity in the murder.

Back from Abuja, Omisore reportedly began the immediate implementation of the Abuja meeting agreement alongside other consequential leaders of the party in the zone, with meetings to ensure popular participation in framing the nomination process.

However, a senior member of the G5, allegedly acting on the instigation of the minister, reportedly stormed some areas in the zone, disputing the decisions arrived at at the Abuja meeting.

Subsequent disruptions and protestations were also said to have taken place in the federal constituencies.

The G5 also reportedly claimed that automatic tickets were promised them when being recruited from PDP, though there were reports suggesting the Adeleke leadership of the now-disintegrating party, was already looking beyond them in fielding candidates for the National Assembly seats.

The disruption of the implementation of the power-sharing deal, expected to regain the confidence of the Omisore camp, eventually led to the collapse of the deal, putting planned future meetings in abeyance. A top party official who once worked closely with Oyetola told Sunday Tribune that “The agreement from the Abuja meeting to regulate purchase of forms by aspirants, in order to avoid a rancorous nomination process, was also dumped as the process became a free-for-all. “The meeting with Baba Akande rose with a plan for the three leaders to first compile candidates’ list through the agreed consensus agreement, then purchase all the nomination forms for those selected.”

The G5 from PDP reportedly purchased nomination forms immediately after the Abuja meeting, without going through the Omisore/Osun East leaders’ process, further fueling the suspicion that Oyetola who allegedly masterminded their cross-carpeting into APC, was engineering the crisis in Osun East, to keep his political promise of automatic return tickets to them.

Aspirants from Omisore’s camp, worried that the nomination doors could be shut against them as the deadline approached, also joined in purchasing individual nomination forms, according to findings.

One of the PDP decampees, five-term rep; Oke eventually emerged the director general of the Oyebamiji campaign. (Sunday Tribune)

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