Olamide Lawal

It is no gainsaying that Ogun state is one of the states to watch out for in the forthcoming general elections as it appears to be a politically sophisticated state.

In the last six months, the state has been bedeviled with various political issues especially among the People’s Democratic party and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

The PDP issue might not really be of interest as the party has been struggling with unending litigations between Senator Buruji Kashamu and Honourable Ladi Adebutu. Despite the few days left to the general elections, their matters are still in court.

The one that should attract Political observers is governor Ibikunle Amosun’s battle with Party supremacy. The governor had singlehandedly endorsed and is sponsoring Honourable Adekunle Akinlade to succeed him as against the Party’s primaries that unanimously produced Prince Dapo Abiodun. This battle has since toured the party apart with some of the governor’s loyalists abandoning the APC and joining their new bride -The APM.

Funnily, the governor had visited President Muhammadu Buhari and the presidency over 28 times for his candidate’s endorsement which the latter refused.

However, the president raised the hand of his annointed and preferred candidate for the Oke-mosan seat late December last year in the presence of the world- Prince (Dr) Dapo Abiodun.

Upon arrival from the Aso villa, the prince swung into action by ensuring that the APC win all its elections, from the Presidential to the Senate, Reps and the State House of Assembly. This is perhaps because the Iperu-prince has no other party than the APC.

Unlike Akinlade who is over-burdened with the task of marketing his new party, rebranding the already stained name of his political godfather and putting in place and re-strategizing their rigging mechanism in a bid to buy the electoral umpire. Commonsensical, If Governor Amosun had gone with his political stooges into the APM, It might be understandable. If he had remained in the APC with his people, he would have been a hero by now just like Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. But the 61-year old had proved himself to be dubious and ungrateful to the party that rescued him in 2011 and even 2015 when he was at the edge of loosing the seat he occupied.

If Governor Amosun, who is also the senatorial candidate of the APC in Ogun Central is claiming daily in the papers that he is supporting and mobilising for President Buhari, how many local governments has he visited since the campaign began in December last year? ANSWER- Only the six local government areas in the central senatorial district where he is seeking their votes. He has no mission in Ijebu/Remo or Yewa/Awori areas for now politically.

Prince Dapo Abiodun has gone to the nooks and crannies, even the most extreme and remote parts of Ogun state have hosted the business moguls.

Dapo Abiodun’s mission to the length and breadth of the state is VOTE APC ACROSS BOARD, VOTE APC ALL THE WAY. He knows that he needs not to talk about the candidates after all there are no candidate’s name on the ballot paper. The ballot papers have only party logos and names.

Another interesting aspect of Abiodun’s campaign language is that he is the only candidate in Ogun state who has adopted President Buhari’s second term campaign slogan-NEXT LEVEL

He says this at every of his campaign venues.
Ask Akinlade when last he mentioned Buhari during his campaign. Why would he even mention an APC Presidential candidate when the APM (His party) also have a Presidential candidate whose name is still on INEC’s list of candidates.
The combination of Akinlade and Amosun no longer carry weight in Ogun state. This is because even the APM (With no structure and reputation) cannot win a single polling boot in the next election and this is perhaps why they have focused on demarketing the APC and even President Muhammodu Buhari.