As political communicators and strategists, our calling is to interpret and analyse both verbal and non-verbal messages, examine events, make deductions, and draw conclusions. In doing this, we also try to contextualise situations by providing the necessary background information to explain why something happened or what it means, rather than looking at it in isolation.
This, therefore, is what I set out to do in this piece, even though I will try to be as brief as possible for clarity and proper understanding.
Two days ago, Monday to be precise, a colleague journalist reached out to me, asking me to help get a response from the minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, on a story titled, “OSUN 2026; Consult and Work with the party leadership, IFE ELDERS counsel OYETOLA ….urge party chairman to be inclusive.”
I forwarded the message to the minister’s spokesman. Because I was quite busy at the time, I did not bother to follow up on whether the minister reacted or not. However, the Oyetola I know would not say a word.
Reading the story, I knew it originated from the camp of Senator Iyiola Omisore. However, let me add that my findings show that what was pushed out in the name of a communiqué was not a true reflection of what transpired at that meeting. Why others who attended the meeting chose to remain silent is something I cannot explain.
By yesterday, I came across what appeared to be a counter-response from youths in Ife. Although I would not ordinarily subscribe to youths exchanging words publicly with their elders, the intervention from the youth group seemed more like a balance of force, if you ask me. While the Omisore camp appears opposed to the choice of Bola Oyebamiji’s running mate, the youths openly applauded the decision and vowed to work assiduously for the success of the party.
Perhaps because the Omisore camp did not get the kind of reaction it expected from the mischievous communiqué it pushed out, a document suddenly surfaced indicating that the Ife-born politician had taken his party to court. Even though there are not two Senator Iyiola Omisores from Osun at the moment, I have since seen another statement from the Omisore camp denying that their principal dragged his party to court. The question then is: which Omisore actually took the APC to court?
Curiously, in the same statement, the Omisore camp claimed that their principal could not have approached the court over a primary election that has not yet taken place. To me, that argument sounds rather amusing.
At any rate, assuming without conceding that whoever authored that statement is fully abreast of happenings within the Osun APC, his position clearly contradicts Omisore’s earlier stance during a live interview, where he publicly endorsed the party’s position regarding the primary, in line with the intervention of Mr. President. So, a man who spoke in such terms cannot now turn around to claim that the process had not taken place. Or is the Omisore camp simply feigning ignorance of their principal’s interview at the time?
Omisore may have started his political journey in the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 1999, but as current records show, he rejoined the progressives with his followers from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on February 15, 2021, barely five years ago. Following the negotiations of 2018, the SDP bloc that later joined the APC was allocated slots in the administration of Adegboyega Oyetola for political patronage. However, the political reality today is quite different. Therefore, those pushing Omisore to negotiate as a condition for supporting the party’s candidate in the August 15 governorship election may be inadvertently leading him toward political miscalculation.
If he were coming from another political party, with a solid structure, it would have been a different ball game. As a matter of fact, if you ask me, if a Dotun Babayemi who came with a quality crowd from the PDP to join the APC about two years ago, is not insisting on negotiating with the APC, a privilege I believe he deserves, why should the Omisore camp be talking about negotiation, as a condition to work for the party?
APC should count itself lucky that the likes of Senator Fadahunsi, Hon. Wole Oke, Hon. Ajilesoro, and several others from Osun East are with them. I will not say more than that for now.
To Omisore and his supporters, whether APC wins or loses the August governorship election, whatever role you play in either of the outcome will be well documented. But I will appeal to you to put down your ‘weapons’ and work for the party’s victory so that you can also lay claim to being part of the success story. There is nothing your camp is complaining about today that it has equally not benefited from in the past. Is it imposition? How did Omisore emerge APC’s National Secretary barely a year after his return to the party? I will not go further on this since I have promised to be brief.
To the Osun APC, if history is anything to go by, there may be little that rapprochement can achieve in persuading Iyiola Omisore, as an individual, to change his mind on the demands he is reportedly making, if indeed those reports are accurate. Therefore, the party should continue with its work and campaign. However, it is important to reach out to members of his camp, as there may still be an opportunity to win some of them over.
Let me conclude with this saying of the holy Prophet Mohammed (SAW): “Know that if the whole world were to gather together in order to benefit you with anything, they would not be able to benefit you except with what Allah has already prescribed for you. And if the whole world were to gather together in order to harm you with anything, they could not harm you except with what Allah has already prescribed for you”. So, to the Osun APC, know that Omisore cannot give you what Allah has not prescribed for you.
Iree o!
