Osun election: Afenifere suspends Omisore for supporting APC

The pan-Yoruba socio-political    organisation, Afenifere, on Tuesday, ,  announced the suspension of the candidate of the Social Democratic Party in the last governorship election in Osun State and member of the group, Senator Iyiola Omisore, for one year.

Omisore was alleged to have aligned with the All Progressives Congress to win the run-off election in the Ife South and North Local Government Areas of Osun State.  His action was said to have gone against the position of his party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Afenifere.

Omisore’s suspension was part of the decisions taken at the monthly meeting of the Afenifere, held at the residence of its leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting and read by a chieftain of the group, Chief Korede Duyile, the group said Omisore allegedly went against the position of the Afenifere during the last governorship election in Osun State.

The group had earlier decided not to support the All Progressives Congress at the Osun governorship and the forthcoming general elections.

The Afenifere said in the communiqué, “The meeting took a decision to suspend Senator Iyiola Omisore for one year for violating Afenifere’s directive which affected the outcome of the Osun election.”

On the controversy surrounding the academic qualification of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Afenifere asked the President to produce his academic qualification to the Independent National Electoral Commission, saying failure to do so would show that he was not a man of integrity.

The group said, “ While the military has yet to make any other statement than the 2015 statement that it does not have the certificate of the President, his spokesman,  Femi Adesina,   issued a statement that the body had lost the records and Garba Shehu made another statement that the Presidency had the academic records of the President.

“The narrow but fundamental issue at stake in all of this is that the President stands guilty of perjury (lying on oath) by swearing that he possesses a document that has no veracity with the military or any examinations body as distinct from the “he is qualified “ obfuscatory people are peddling.

“The onus on Mr President is to produce the document he has claimed through the examination body ( the West African Examination Council) so as to retain his claim to being a man of integrity and being eligible to contest the 2019 elections.”

The group also frowned on the recent killings of the protesting members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, also known as the Shiites,  in Abuja,  by the men of the Nigeria Army and the police, asking the Federal Government to release the leader of the Shiites group, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, who is currently in incarceration.

Afenifere said there was no justification for the action of the armed uniformed men to be shooting the protesting members of the Islamic group.

“The meeting called on the Federal Government to release the leader of the Shiites as ordered by different courts and ensure that the security personnel responsible for the mass killings of his supporters are brought to book.

“We must not forget how extra-judicial killing of the founder of Boko Haram turned the group into a massive terror machine which we have been unable to contain and we are opening yet another front,” the Afenifere stated.

Meanwhile, the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has said his decision to work for the APC in the rerun governorship election in the state was in consonance with the position of the SDP in the state.

Omisore, who said this in a text message sent to our correspondent to react to the one-year suspension slammed on him by the Afenifere, stated that the Yoruba socio-cultural group did not give him any directive concerning the poll.

He said although he had not been informed of the suspension, he stressed that he acted based on the resolution of the Osun State chapter of the SDP on whose platform he contested.

Omisore said, “Acting at variance? Osun SDP passed a resolution to coalesce with the APC. Osun SDP members are not affiliate of Afenifere. Politics is local, so I acted in consonance with the position and will of Osun SDP.

“I’m yet to be informed,  ( of the suspension) if so, Afenifere bypassed principle of fair hearing. I was not given any directives; it might be an oversight on Afenifere’s part or assumptions.”

Recall that the Peoples Democratic Party and APC’s leaders had stormed the residence of Omisore immediately after the first ballot held on September 22 but the APC mounted a serious pressure on Omisore to support the party’s candidate, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola.

The APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomole; Governors of Oyo, Ogun, Kano and the then Ekiti State governor-elect, Dr Kayode Fayemi, were sent by President Muhammadu to discuss with the former Osun State deputy governor.