Former National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Otunba Iyiola Omisore, has revealed he outsmarted the immediate-past national chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, to ensure that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu emerged as the presidential candidate of the APC in 2022.
The revelation comes two years after the intrigue-filled presidential primary of the ruling APC that produced the former Lagos State governor as the party’s flagbearer for the 2023 general election.
Omisore, who was a guest on a socio-political programme on Channels Television, ‘Inside Sources’ with Laolu Akande, stated this on Friday.
The former Osun State deputy governor, who revealed that Senator Adamu had wanted the North to retain the Presidency after the eight-year tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari who is from the North-West geopolitical zone, said he too had a mandate to deliver a South-West person as the party’s flag bearer.
“In politics, everybody has their mindsets, we came from different (geopolitical) zones to the NWC (National Working Committee) that time, representing differing different interests.
“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.
The former APC national secretary said though Adamu supported a different presidential aspirant, the APC 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,” Omisore added.
He further disclosed that everything that happened in the buildup to the APC presidential primary election was “all political,” adding that, “whatever we did then was for that time.”
He stressed that the party had moved on to consolidating on democratic gains for the benefit of Nigerians.
Recall that the former APC national chairman Adamu, had in the buildup to the party’s presidential primary in June 2022, announced to the party’s NWC members that then Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, was the party’s ‘consensus candidate’.
The announcement was, however, vehemently rejected by a league of northern governors who preferred Tinubu to in the interest of rotational Presidency.
Amid the dramatic twists and intra-party squabbles that trailed the intriguing primary exercise, Tinubu won by defeating strong contenders like Lawan, former Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi; former Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, whom he beat to the second and third positions, respectively, among others.
Tinubu would later defeat main opposition candidates Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) at the 2023 general election to become the president .
Two months after Tinubu was inaugurated as President in July 2023, Adamu and Omisore were forced to resign their positions as National Chairman and Secretary of APC, respectively.
Their controversial resignation amid unclear circumstances, paved the way for a new NWC with former Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje and former Senate spokesman, Ajibola Bashiru, emerging as National Chairman and National Secretary, respectively.