•City Peoples Reveals The Inside Details
These days, in Ogun State, when you see politicians gather in twos and threes, most of the time, their topic of discussion is usually about Gov. Dapo Abiodun, the Ogun State Governor.
From Yewa to Abeokuta, to the Ijebu area of the state, the style of administration of Prince Dapo Abiodun, has been a source of major concern for them. Wherever you turn, he has become the main issue in political discussions. Many politicians across the state are very unhappy with his style of administration. They complain that they cannot positively feel the impact of his governance. They are not happy with the fact that he has not fulfilled all his promises to both the Electorate and some of his party members. They allege that all the promises he made to many individuals and groups in 2019 have not been fulfilled. They argue that to enable the governor win in 2019, he promised many groups who worked for him and those who collaborated with him, things that he has not fulfilled.
They also complained that unlike previous governors of the state whom they could reach via their phones and WhatsApp messages, the governor has been incommunicado for months. They claim that even his Commissioners & Special Advisers find it difficult to reach him on important matters. They say he only sees those he wants to see.
Part of the allegation is that he does not give them free hand to do anything and he has not empowered them financially to spend when they need to, on the running of their offices.
Why many politicians are angry is also because all the far-reaching changes he promised when he came in have not been fulfilled. For instance, he promised to correct all the shortcomings of his predecessors (Amosun) in terms of reaching out to party faithful at the Wards and local government levels, but he has abandoned them, with the effect that a lot of party members at the various levels have become very frustrated. Even the elders of the party are unhappy too.
Expectedly, other party leaders and those in the Opposition have seized control to build on Gov. Dapo Abiodun’s shortcoming.
This explains why Ogun APC, which he is the leader of, is now sharply divided, with Senator Ibikunle Amosun leading the second group, within the party. As you read this, Senator Ibikunle Amosun controls a big chunk of members of the party and they have promised to totally hijack the party structure from Dapo Abiodun.
What these politicians who are angry have decided to do, is to make sure he does not get the party ticket to enable him run for 2nd-term and if he gets it, they will make sure he loses at the polls eventually.
Like one of them put it, they will give him the kind of treatment they gave the Amosun Group in 2019 that gave Abiodun the chance to win.
And City People gathered that they are serious about it. For quite some time now, Amosun has emerged as the alternative governor in the state. He is the one that party members go to for support. His Abeokuta GRA house has been turned into a Mecca, as he attends to the requests of people on a daily basis. At festive periods, his house is where party faithful go to and they usually leave with goodie bags of basic human needs for their families.
As it is, the governor has lost political grip of the party, because many of those who the government sees as his loyalists are the ones who are complaining the most, because like they say, the governor has not empowered them to help take care of the party leaders at the word level and grassroots. “That is why many Local Government Chairmen and Councillors are unhappy with Mr Governor.” explained a source. “When he came into power, he promised to empower them. Part of the complaints he made about his predecessor was that Amosun did not support the party leaders at the grassroots and that he starved the LG leaders of sufficient funds to actualise their mandate. He then promised that if he is made governor he will pay a lot of attention to the wards and local governments. This he has not done”.
At it is now, not only are Ogun APC political leaders angry with Gov. Dapo Abiodun, many of them are no longer loyal to him. And this has eroded his political base.
For instance, the 3 Senators in Ogun State are not with him. They are all close to Senator Ibikunle Amosun. That is why Senator Ibikunle Amosun has become their rallying point. Senator Lekan Mustapha and Senator Tolu Odebiyi now work as a team, with no relationship whatsoever with the governor. To further send a political message to Abiodun, the 3 Senators now sit together at the chambers of the Senate each time there is a sitting and they often take photos of the 3 of them together which goes viral online.
Ogun traditional rulers are also not happy with him because they feel abandoned. The traditional rulers in his axis are also not happy with him.
Many of them seem loyal to previous governors. They also complain that the governor has not fulfilled his promise to many of them over time. That is why his relationship with them has suffered greatly. As it is, what all the various groups are looking forward to is the 2023 general elections when they will have the chance to show their displeasure through their votes.
Part of the anger of the politicians and party leaders can be seen in the way and manner some of them are propping up Hon. Ladi Adebutu who wants to be the next governor of the state. Ladi is in PDP. He is from Iperu-Remo like the governor, but his activities are fast gaining ground.
Many politicians have vowed to battle the governor with Ladi Adebutu when elections come.
They are also working on how to further weaken the political base of the governor in the Ogun East Senatorial District. City People gathered that Amosun has made great inroads into the governor’s political base in Ogun State.
The incumbent Senator Lekan Mustapha is his best friend.
Hon. Ladi Adebutu is also close to Amosun. He supported Akinlade, Amosun’s candidate for governor then, who contested on the platform of APM. Ladi then entered into an agreement with APM, rather than work with Dapo Abiodun. Hon. Ladi Adebutu who is no stranger to prestigious titles – Okanlomo – Iperu Akesan, Lisa Aje-Egba has just been honoured this time, by the Lopere unit, under the leadership of his father, Balogun Kessington Adebutu has found LADO more than worthy to become their SERIKI.
The governor also is not on good terms with the Adebutu family, which is a big family in Iperu. The politics of the town has also put his Oba in a difficult position.
He is popularly called Baba Governor because he is the king of the governor’s town, but he has not been able to bring rapid development to the town as expected.
Dapo Abiodun has been Governor of Ogun State since winning the 2019 general elections under the platform of the All Progressives Congress. Dapo Abiodun was the board Chairman of the Corporate Affairs Commission. Prior to his assumption of office, he was the Managing Director of Heyden Petroleum and the founder of First Power Limited. On 10th March, 2019, he was declared Governor-Elect of Ogun State by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Abiodun was born on 29th May 1960 in Iperu-Remo, Ogun State, to the royal family of Iperu. He was born into the family of Dr Emmanuel Abiodun and Mrs Victoria Abiodun from Iperu-Remo, in Ogun East senatorial district.
Abiodun is a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, although he is currently a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) defecting after the 2015 general elections. He contested the Ogun East senatorial seat on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 Nigerian general elections which he lost to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate. He was elected a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the platform of the defunct United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) in 1998. He has served as a member of various presidential committees and organisations. In 2019, he contested in the gubernatorial elections in Ogun State and won, under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He was sworn in as Governor of Ogun State on 29th May 2019.
He is a born again Christian and worships with the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry. He has testified that despite much opposition to him getting into the office of Ogun State Governor, God still got him there.
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