Bu Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Two years after the intrigue-filled June 2022 presidential primary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that produced ex-Lagos governor Bola Tinubu as the party’s standard bearer, the party’s National Secretary at the time, Iyiola Omisore, has made some disclosures of how he delivered his “mission” for a South-Westerner to secure the much-coveted ticket of the party.
Omisore was a guest on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme aired on Channels Television on Friday.
The mathematician and former Osun State deputy governor confirmed that the then APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, wanted the North to retain the Presidency after the eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari who is from the North-West geopolitical zone, but he (Omisore) had a mandate to deliver a South-West person as the party’s flag bearer.
In politics, everybody has their own mindset; we came from different (geopolitical) zones to the NWC (National Working Committee) at that time, representing differing different interests,” he said.
“I was the most senior member of the party in the South-West and my mandate was to deliver South-West for Presidency. Somebody from South-South too, his own mandate was to deliver South for Presidency, I want to assume so.
“So, my own was to get to my destination which I have gotten to today. The way and manner I did my journey is between me and God. I can’t castigate anybody who tried to be smart but if you want to be smart and I outsmarted you, to God be the glory. But the point is that my mission was to deliver the South-West for Presidency which we are today.”
Omisore said though Adamu backed a different aspirant, the NWC was able to present a convention “where democracy took place and democracy was respected. We voted, everybody had a choice and it was transparent. And the moment there is a transparent primary, there won’t be no noise; it is only when people feel cheated that they go to court.”
The former APC National Secretary said everything that happened in the buildup to the APC presidential primary was “all political”. He said “whatever we did then was for that time,” adding that the party had moved on to consolidating on democratic gains for the benefit of Nigerians.
In the build-up to the APC presidential primary in June 2022, Adamu announced then Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, as the party’s “consensus candidate” but the announcement was strongly rejected by a league of northern governors who preferred Tinubu.
Despite the dramatic twists and intra-party squabbles, Tinubu won the keenly contested primary, trouncing strong contenders like Lawan, ex-Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi, former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, amongst others. The former Lagos governor would later defeat opposition figures like Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) at the February 2023 general election to clinch the number one spot at Aso Villa.
About two months after Tinubu was inaugurated as Nigeria’s President, specifically in July 2023, Adamu and Omisore resigned as APC National Chairman and Secretary respectively in controversial and unclear circumstances, paving the way for a new NWC with ex-Kano governor Abdullahi Ganduje and former Senate spokesman Ajibola Bashiru as National Chairman and National Secretary respectively.