The immediate past National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Iyiola Omisore, on Friday, stated that although the then-party Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, wanted the presidential ticket to go to the North, he was satisfied to deliver it to the South-West.
Senator Omisore spoke for the first time since the June 2022 presidential primary of the ruling APC about the internal politics on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, monitored on Channels TV.
The former National Secretary expressed satisfaction over the outcomes of the presidential primaries, which produced Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The mathematician and former Osun State Deputy Governor confirmed that Senator 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. However, he (Omisore) 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) at that time, representing different interests,” he said.
“I was the most senior member of the party in the South-West, and my mandate was to deliver the South-West for the presidency. Someone from the South-South, too, had his own mandate to deliver the South for the presidency, I want to assume so.
“So, my aim was to reach my destination, which I have achieved today. The way and manner I undertook my journey is between me and God.
I can’t criticize anyone 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 the presidency, which we have 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.
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We voted, everyone had a choice, and it was transparent. The moment there is a transparent primary, there will 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 build-up 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 consolidate democratic gains for the benefit of Nigerians.
In the build-up to the APC presidential primary in June 2022, Adamu announced the 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.
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Despite the dramatic twists and intra-party squabbles, Tinubu won the keenly contested primary, defeating strong contenders like Lawan, ex-Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi, and former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, among 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) in 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.
