Ogun 2019: The men Amosun lost

Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun state is unrelenting in his determination to stop his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) from winning the March governorship election in the state as he continued his open support for Adekunle Akinlade of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM). In the process, the embattled governor has been deserted by a teeming number of his political allies, associates and disciples, writes Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor.

It is no longer news that Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, lost out in the bid to have his preferred aspirant, Adekunle Akinlade, emerge as the state’s governorship candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congres (APC), the same party on which platform he is contesting for a seat in the national assembly as the Senator representing Ogun Central senatorial district.

It is also no longer newsworthy to announce that Akinlade, determined to forge ahead with his gubernatorial dream, with the open support of the governor, is  now the governorship candidate of hitherto little-known Allied Progressive Movement (APM). With Akinlade in his new party are a host of other preferred candidates of Amosun’s, gunning for sensorial, House of Representatives and state assembly seats in the forthcoming elections.

Announcing his open support for the defectors the very day Akinlade and others unveiled APC as their new port of call, Amosun told the world that in spite of his own decision to stay back in the ruling APC largely due to his love for President Muhammadu Buhari, the aggrieved chieftains of his party willing to move out and join another party in pursuit of their ambitions, have his blessing to do so.

He said, “After the primary that was conducted, they just picked anybody that they liked for governorship. We equally have 26 state assembly candidates. Imagine, they are now telling me that I should stop them. God will punish Amosun (me) if he stops them. All our assembly members that decided to follow Akinlade, you have my support. So, when you do things that negate reasonableness and good thinking, you have to face the consequence.”

Amosun, who said he met President Buhari and other APC leaders 28 times in Abuja over the battle for the governorship ticket between Dapo Abiodun, the party’s candidate and Akinlade, added that “I will be running around to campaign for Mr. President, but I will not stop Hon. Akinlade and all our people that want to run round with him. As a matter of fact, you have my blessing.

Buoyed by the governor’s endorsement and support for their actions, Akinlade and other defectors have been going around the state campaigning with the name of both Senator Amosun and President Buhari. “Queerly, the keep repeating the statement made by Amosun that they are APC in spirit and only APM in body as they will return to the APC after winning the elections,” a party source told The Nation.

But if Governor Amosun, who boasted at the beginning of the crisis that if he and his political camp is forced to abandon the APC in the state, the party will be left to prosecute the 2019 elections without any serious chieftain, and may lose the state to the opposition, was thinking he has the support of all his allies and associates in his decision to dump Abiodun for Akinlade, current developments within his political family may have proven that he got it wrong.

 

Left on his own

Today, barely four weeks to the general elections, and with electioneering campaigns at the peak, a good number of Amosun’s men have made it clear to him that he erred in his decision to embark on what many of them described as “unpardonable anti-party activities.” According to Chief Bayo Ogunpola, a chieftain of the party, “Mr. Governor missed the point in that decision and he is paying for it dearly as most of his trusted allies are now working against his plot.”

The state’s Commissioner for Culture and Tourism and one of the governor’s most trusted allies before now, Muyiwa Oladipo, while declaring his support for the governorship ambition of Abiodun at the weekend, after weeks of speculations over where he stands in the melee, said he said he remains loyal to the party’s principles ”which is superior to any personal interest.”

Explaining that the clarification became necessary as it was being rumoured that he had defected to APM, the Sagamu-born former Speaker of the House of Assembly said “there is no consequences for my action, especially for not supporting the governor’s adopted candidate, because am not in any way into anti-party activities. So if I am sacked for being a loyal APC member, then I think I will be justified.”

Another prominent ally of Amosun’s who is now poised for a showdown against him over his support for Akinlade is his immediate past Chief of Staff, Tolu Odebiyi. Apart from remaining in the APC againts the governor’s directive, and contesting as the party’s senatorial candidate in Ogun West, Odebiyi is telling whoever cares to listen that he is all out to work for the success of Abiodun’s ambition.

“When Governor Amosun mooted the idea of moving to APM to me, I said  I would think over it and get back to him. When I consulted my people in  Ogun West over it and they were all aversed to the idea. When I reported back to the Governor on the decision of my people, it was not well received by him. But I told him  I had to be mindful of my late father’s legacy. My father was a true democrat and a progressive.

“As a result, the APC tenets take after the past progressive parties, like Action Group, Unity Party of Nigeria, the Alliance for Democracy and the Action Congress. So, they are like family parties. Turning my back on the APC would amount to turning my back on my people in Ogun West. My loyalty to the party and my commitment to ensuring President Buhari is re-elected remains my steadfast and show of loyalty to the party. I don’t like switching political parties, because, I respect party’s supremacy,” he said.

For Comrade Afolabi Afuape, another of Governor Amosun’s close aides, who resigned as Commissioner for Youth and Sports few weeks back, there was no way he will defy the party to please the Governor. The youthful politician, who is now the APC candidate for the House of Assembly in Abeokuta South, is said to be one of those who tried to convince Amosun to drop the idea of backing another party to defeat the APC in the state.

“As a close aide to the governor, the former Commissioner, along with some other Amosun loyalists in the APC, tried to convince him not to embark on the anti-party activities he is doing with APM today. But all efforts to make him see reasons failed. That informs why Afuwape and other erstwhile aides, allies and associates of the governor are working against Akinlade,” a source told The Nation.

Another notable loss for Amosun is the decisison of Hon. Iziaq Abiodun Akinlade, who was a former APC gubernatorial aspirant, to remain in the party and join he Dapo Abiodun campaign organization as its Deputy Director General. The former member of House of Represebtives member who represented Yewa-south/Ipokia federal constituency, had last year joined Amosun’s political family in search of the APC guber ticket.

Similarly, former commissioner for Forestry in Amosun’s first term, Ayo Olubori and a governorship aspirant, Simeon Hunyen, are among other Amosun loyalists who have joined the Abiodun group following the governor’s support for APM’s Akinlade. Olubori, until his resignation from current administration few weeks ago, served as a Senior Consultant in the government. He is now the Secretary of the Caretaker Committee of the APC in the state.

Another trusted hand the governor lost to the Abiodun camp is Barrister Yinka Odufuwa who served as the Special Adviser to Amosun until last October when he left the government. Odufuwa, while boasting that the Amosun-backed APM, and its candidate, Akinlade are no match for the APC in the state, said Abiodun’s pedigree and political antecedents will give him victory at the polls.

The departure of Princess Olapeju Shote, a loyalist of the governor who served as a Senior Special Assistant in the Governor’s Office until recently, according to inside sources, came to many within Amosun’s inner caucus as a shock. “Shote is one of those who worked closely with the governor. She was very committed to the interest of the group. But she proved to all that the party is more important to her when she joined the Abiodun train,” a source said.

A number of other known loyalists of the governor have also pitched their tents with the Osoba camp to work for Abiodun. They included the Senator representing Ogun West, Gbolahan Dada; the APC candidate for Egbado South/Ipokia Federal Constituency, Biyi Otegbeye; the immediate past Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru, who also contested the governorship ticket with Dapo Abiodun at the APC primary election, and Dr. Femi Majekodunmi, among others.

 

More to go?

And if feelers from some quarters across the state is anything to go by, then the Ogun governor may still suffer further loss of his aides and allies before the general elections. According to very reliable party sources, not a few chieftains and members of the ruling APC currently working for the ambition of Akinlade, in obeisance to Amosun, are weary and tired of being accused of anti-party activities.

The Nation gathered that a group within the party in Ogun Central senatorial district, has been holding meetings with party members with a view to calling on Senator Amosun to choose between the APC and the APM for then to follow. According to Chief Ogunpola, the group made up of known Amosun mobilisers in the zone, are tired of campaign for the APC during senatorial campaigns and singing the praises of APM at governorship campaign rallies.

“I can authoritatively tell you that barring last minute hitches or changes, a large number of the governor’s supporters in his native Abeokuta and other zones of Ogun Central, will join the Dapo Abiodun camp. Already, they are grumbling about having to campaign for the APC during senatorial campaigns in the district and working for the APM at governorship campaign rallies across the state.

“I heard they want to go public soon by addressing a press conference that will call on Amosun to tell them which of the two parties they should stick to. This is the reality of what is happening within the governor’s camp. People are confused and unhappy. Aside that, some other political leaders in Ogun East, seeing how their people are warming up to the APC candidate, are reaching out to us about their readiness to join the train,” he said.

The Nation also gathered that some elected council chairmen and ward councilors across the state recently met with the Director General of Abiodun campaign, Prince Segun Adesegun in Abeokuta, to discuss modalities on how they can join the APC governorship campaign train. The elected council officials, who had stayed away from Abiodun’s campaign for fear of incurring the wrath of the governor, appear to be ready to damn the consequence of identifying publicly with the APC governorship candidate.

“Many people are tired. And as the election draws nearer and people get more assured that APC will win the race, you will begin to see more people becoming bold enough to openly dare Amosun by joining the Abiodun campaign train. Many of those following APM today are doing so under duress. They fear what the governor can do. Some fear they will lose their positions. But that will soon become a thing of the past,” our source said.

But the APM House of Representatives candidate for Remo Federal Constituency, Honourable Yinka Mafe, is certain that the new party will win next year’s poll across the State. Describing the party as child of circumstance determined to correct the injustice meted to its chieftains by the leadership of the APC, the lawmaker who currently represents Sagamu Constituency II at Ogun State House of Assembly, said APC is in for a shock at the polls.

The Majority Leader of the Ogun state House of Assembly spoke during the inauguration of the campaign committee of the party for Remo Federal Constituency as well as the presentation of flags to the candidates of the party at a rally held at Gateway International Stadium, Sagamu recently. “Though victory is of God, I am confident that our party will record a landslide victory in Ogun State next year because this struggle is about continued progress and prosperity of our people,” he said.