Razaq Bamidele
The scenario playing out in the Ogun State political turf now can be likened to what happened in Osun State between 2018 and 2022.
Just as happened in Osun State, the trending development in Ogun State is the soured relationships within the ranks of the two major actors, the immediate past governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, and his successor, Prince Dapo Abiodun and their supporters. Interestingly, just like in Osun State both are stalwarts of the ruling political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). So, in the current scenario, Abiodun is to Amosun in Ogun exactly the way Oyetola is to Aregbesola in Osun.
Governor Adegboyega Oyetola took the baton directly from his predecessor, Rauf Aregbesola who is currently the minister of interior. And towards the end of Aregbesola’s second tenure in 2018, there were issues about succession, leading to the split of the party into two camps. While one camp was for the sitting governor, Oyetola the other camp pitched its tent with the immediate past governor, Aregbesola. Initially, there were denials, but at the end of the day, the two camps held parallel congresses leading to the emergence of parallel executive committees.
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Prince Gboyega Famodun emerged as state chairman on the governor’s side while one-time Federal lawmaker, Abdur-Razaq Salinsile became the state chairman from the side of the Aregbesola’s loyalists, The Osun Progressives (TOP). As the crisis lingered on, both sides were claiming to be the authentic faction. And unfortunately, till the election passed, no concrete move towards reconciliation was made. The result of the election as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was in favour of the candidate of the opposition party Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Jackson Ademola Adeleke.
In separate interviews with the spokesmen of the two camps, both stood on the respective grounds that they were the owners of the party and thus shifted no grounds.
The State Publicity Secretary of the Osun Chapter of the APC, Kunle Oyatomi told The Nigerian Xpress correspondent that, what people perceived as a crisis was just natural disagreement among members of the same family enthusing that, the disagreement would soon disappear and all aggrieved members would come back home under the same roof where they naturally belonged.
Speaking in the same vein, the South-west zonal spokesman of the party, Mr Ayo Afolabi asserted that there was no crisis, but normal family disagreement that the crisis resolution mechanism of the party would take care of and things would normalise.
But state Secretary of The Osun Progressives, Prince Adelani Baderinwa expressed apprehension that with the hard-line posture of the governor and his supporters, winning the July 16 governorship election with a divided house would be a 21st-century miracle.
Corroborating Baderinwa’s position was the TOP state chairman, Abdur-Razaq Salinsile, who expressed deep concern about the fate of the party going to the election without the “original owners of the party,” admitting that, “there is nothing God cannot do and that in politics anything can happen.”
At the end of the day, when reconciliation was not forthcoming, some members of the TOP were alleged to have started either decamping to the opposition parties or working for opposition parties while still in the APC. For instance, former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Lasun Yusuff, defected from the APC and contested the governorship election on the platform of the Labour Party (LP).
The Ogun State chapter of the APC appears to be toeing the Osun path as the former and current governors are already at daggers drawn openly. There has been no love lost between Amosun and Abiodun. It is not, however, strange to political watchers because the sign of discord was manifest during the build-up to the 2019 election when Amosun sponsored another governorship candidate on the ticket of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM). Amosun’s preferred choice against Dapo Abiodun was Adekunle Akinlade, a member of the House of Representatives. However, Dapo Abiodun of the APC won while some members viewed what Amosun did as an anti-party activity that should attract sanctions.
Confirming the festering rift recently, Amosun said that the election that brought Abiodun to power in 2019 was full of discrepancies, vowing that the governor would be dethroned next year. Amosun’s threat implied that he had some jokers up his sleeves with his triumphal entry into Ogun State immediately after the APC presidential primaries in Abuja. Amosun had at the presidential primary stepped down for the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the admiration of mostly Yoruba members of the party. When Tinubu eventually won the party ticket, those Yoruba contestants who withdrew for him became instant heroes and celebrities.
However, Governor Abiodun, a prince of Iperu Remo did not allow the threat to get cold when he fired back a salvo describing Amosun as being delusional and vowing that, he would not be distracted.
This counterattack from the governor came during a media interaction immediately after the grand finale of the 50th anniversary of the Abeokuta Club, where he insisted that he would not join issues with anyone that wants to play God, emphasising that Ogun state belongs to all and not the inheritance of anyone’s father.
Rather than join the issue with his predecessor, Abiodun promised to be more focused than before.
His words: “I will not be distracted by any person or persons who have a problem with self- delusion. I will not be distracted by any person who does not appreciate that Ogun State is not anybody’s father’s inheritance. We are all stakeholders in this commonwealth called Ogun State.
“I am not going to join issues with anyone that wants to play God, I will leave them to God. God can deal with whoever is challenging His authority and wants to play God. All I can say is that what we stand for in Ogun State is an administration that is committed to providing purposeful leadership and purposeful infrastructural development across the length and breadth of the state.”
So far, while the formation of Amosun’s fresh battle against Abiodun is yet to be unveiled, the ex-governor’s political son anointed for the 2019 governorship poll on the ticket of the APM, Adekunle Akinlade is now running as the deputy governorship candidate of the PDP flag bearer, Ladi Adebutu.
Before the last election in Osun State, the same scenario played out in the APC when Aregbesola’s former commissioner for local government, Kola Alimi crossed over to the PDP and became a strong hand in the campaign team of Senator Ademola Adeleke, the opposition candidate.
Adeleke defeated the sitting governor, Adegboyega Oyetola in the July 16 race, scoring 403,371 votes while the opponent scored 375,027 votes.
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While Adeleke has been declared governor-elect, the last might not have been heard about the election as Governor Oyetola has assembled a team of top lawyers to contest the PDP victory at the election tribunal.
Another similarity in the case of Osun and Ogun is that, while Ademola Adeleke has a multi-billionaire backer in his brother, Dr. Deji Adeleke, the Ogun PDP candidate, Ladi Adebutu also has the backing of his wealthy father, Chief Kessington Adebutu.
It remains to be seen how the Amosun and Abiodun rivalry ahead of the next governorship contest will affect the political headship of the Ogun State.
If Amosun intends to use the PDP as his next fighting platform, the move may end up as a wild goose chase as the opposition is also enmeshed in an internal crisis, as Segun Showunmi is also embroiled in a contest to displace Adebutu as the party’s candidate.
The APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu recently bolstered Abiodun’s confidence when he expressed satisfaction with his performance and assured that he would be supported for re-election.
