By Lanre Oloyede
One of the leading governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the forth coming governorship election in Osun State, Chief Bola Oyebamiji, has boasted that he is the most experienced out of the nine aspirants jostling for the party’s ticket.
The former Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) also maintained that he remains the aspirant to beat in the forthcoming APC primary.
Oyebamiji, popularly addressed by his supporters as (AMBO), made the boast while addressing journalists shortly after submitting his expression of interest and nomination forms at the party’s national Secretarariat on Monday ahead of the primary slated for December 13.
Reeling out his experiences, Oyebamiji said: “I worked in banking for 28 years — you must be profitable, know your onions, and deliver results. I resigned to join public service, and everywhere I served, I left without blemish.
“My track record as finance commissioner and as NIWA MD gives me the courage that anywhere I step, I will succeed. That is why I believe I am the candidate to beat.”
The former two-time Commissioner for Finance however preached unity amongst the aspirants in supporting whoever emerges the party’s candidate in order to defeat the incumbent governor Ademola Adeleke.
He submitted that the APC must approach the election as a united front if it hopes to reclaim the state, vowing that he is prepared to work hand-in-hand with Senator Iyiola Omisore and other party stalwarts to unseat Governor Adeleke in the 2026 election.
Oyebamiji dismissed claims that political godfathers are backing his ambition, stressing that his support base is rooted among party members and ordinary Osun people. “Nobody is backing me except the Almighty God and the credible people of Osun. They are the ones urging me on,” he stated.
Oyebamiji described Osun as a state with immense, underutilised human and natural resources requiring a disciplined manager with character, analytical depth and integrity, just as he urged delegates to examine aspirants’ antecedents rather than rhetoric.
He called for prayers and committed to grassroots mobilisation, promising transparent, evidence-based governance if elected, since Osun deserves a results-driven leader capable of expanding opportunities, strengthening infrastructure, and restoring credibility to government.
