- Safiu Kehinde
A clash has on Sunday erupted between supporters of former Osun State Governor, Gboyega Oyetola, and former deputy governor and lawmaker, Sen. Iyiola Omisore, over alleged manipulation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) party register.
As captured in a video shared on Facebook on Sunday, physical altercation had ensued between the camps of Munirudeen Oyebamiji (Ambo), Oyetola’s aspirant for the 2026 Osun Governorship election, and Omisore, who had last week declared interest in the gubernatorial race.
The supporters of Omisore had in the video accused, Engr. Remi Omowaiye, the former Commissioner of Works under the Oyetola-led administration, of orchestrating the manipulation of the register.
Omowaiye, who currently served as the Executive Director of the Federal Housing Authority, was accused of omitting names of Omisore’s supporters from the party’s register.
This had reportedly led to the clash between the two camps.
Meanwhile, caught in the middle of the fiasco was a former Osun Commissioner for Agriculture, Prince Wale Adedoyin, who was seen engaging in verbal tussle with one of the leaders of the Ambo camp.
The former member of the state’s House of Assembly had to restrained by Omisore’s supporters.
Speaking to NPO Reports Correspondent in a telephone conversation on Monday, Adedoyin clarified that the manipulated list was that of nominees for local government appointment.
“We were asked to go and select nominees’ candidates for this Local Government Supervisory councillors, executive assistants, and all the rest for the local government.
“And in Ilesa West, we have two factions. We have my own group and Omowaiye’s group. We don’t get along. But of recent, we decided to make peace, and I want to believe he is ready for peace. He came to me and said no more war, and I said fine.
“At the selection, the leadership of our local government, the apex body, called for a meeting where we will decide and nominate these candidates for about 40 positions.
“The two factions were represented at that meeting. I suggested to them that let’s have one slots each to ourselves, we were about 15. Omowaiye was not there. He was in Abuja.
“They said no that we should be mentioning names from Ward one to Ward 10 because we have 10 wards. That was how we started.
“We did everything, no issue. The next day, we went to Ijesa South where do joint leaders meeting. We reported what we did and all of them clapped for us that for the very first time, the two factions sat down and decide to have a common list.
“We were happy, not knowing that they still have their own hidden agenda.
“The next day, the two of them, the Chairman of the Council and one Femi Onigbogi, who happened to be the stooge of Omowaiye and Ayeni, now took the list and doctored it.
“They removed seven names from the list. They removed those they believed are not in support of Ambo.
“I’m neutral. I don’t belong to any aspirant because I see myself as House of Representatives aspirant. SO, I don’t want to pitch my tent with anybody. I’m ready to work for anybody that emerged as candidate.
“They went and remove those names and that was the cause of the wahala. The leadership now decided that we should have a meeting so that we can review what happened. These people refused to show up. I was the one calling Femi Onigbogi that you are a Barrister and your integrity is at stake. Come and convince us on why you people went ahead and change all these names. If you have genuine reasons, we will go with you.
“They refused to come. I was calling. We waited till evening. Then we had altercation on the phone. He was now swearing for me.” Adedoyin narrated.
The ex-Commissioner further accused Onigbogi of abusing his mother which prompted his actions during the clash on Sunday.
“What pained me the most was that he started swearing for my mother. As if that was not done, the wife, who is usually the one fighting for him, now did a voice note that went viral.
“She rained curses at him that I will die and all that. It was the reaction to all those things that made me to alter whatever statement you might have heard me saying at that party meeting yesterday.” He added.
Reacting to his alleged involvement in the manipulation, Omowaiye, debunked the claims, stressing that there was no clash between the party members.
“In that video, did you really see a clash? I’m sure the video you saw was of someone shouting. That’s not a clash.
“Then two, there is nothing like list. If any list is coming up, it is the work of the secretariat, not even at the local level. There is nothing like delegates list or whatever. It is just a falsehood.” He said.
Omowaiye further defended his claim with a video of jubilant party members at the venue where clash was reported.
He maintained that Ambo supporters had at the meeting
“There was nothing like that. That is why I corrected you about the video.
“The Ambo supporters overwhelmed the other aspirants’ supporters. We are doing this primary together.” He added.