Three former members of the Osun State House of Assembly have defected from the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The former lawmakers, Lekan Oyediran, Aleem Bakare and Folorunso Oladoyin, submitted their separate resignation letters to the chairmen of APC in their respective local government areas.
460PLAY received letters showing the resignations were between June 1 and June 2.
Bakare said his resignation from the APC was based on the party’s lack of internal democracy. However, Oyediran and Oladoyin did not state reasons for their resignation from the APC.
Oyediran represented Odo-Otin State Constituency in the Osun State House of Assembly between 1999 and 2003 whereas Bakare was the representative of Ejigbo State Constituency between 2003 and 2007.
Oladoyin served as the Ife South State Constituency representative from 2011 to 2019 before becoming Commissioner for Education under the administration of the former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola till the conclusion of the government’s mandate in November 2022.
Bakare also served as Special Adviser on Lands Matters in the Oyetola administration.
The three former lawmakers are politically affiliated with a former APC National Secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore, who has kept a low profile in the party since the APC governorship primary poll held in December 2025.
Jamiu Olawumi, the spokeswoman of the Senator Iyiola Omisore Campaign Organisation, who commented on the news on Wednesday, said that the former lawmakers were close political associates of Omisore.
Olawumi, however, denied that they were asked to leave the APC by Omisore, stating their decisions were personal and based on their individual political calculations.
He said: “The anxiety is groundless and baseless. We endorse Iyiola Omisore’s ambition to be governor. “We targeted him, we saw his capacity and capability, that’s why we went to invite him to come and contest.”
If the result of the struggle is that the strongest line of defence is taken out, then people that cannot take the shock may leave the party and may even leave his camp to join the victorious camp’, he added. That does not mean that Omisore is abandoning the party since Omisore was not our cash cow. “We are political colleagues.”
Olawumi said the departures should not be taken as Omisore planning to abandon the APC, adding that those who resigned included people who also worked in the administration of previous Governor Oyetola.
APC Osun spokesperson, Kola Olabisi reacting to the resignations said the party was not troubled by the development adding that the action of the former lawmakers was an expression of their constitutional right to freedom of association.
“In a democracy there is free exit and free entry to politics and one can exercise his fundamental freedom of association any time. “You can’t begrudge anybody,” Olabisi remarked.
He said APC in Osun had attracted some famous politicians from other parties in recent times and advised members to keep focused on strengthening the party ahead of future elections.