The governor of Ogun State Mr. Ibikunle Amosun has accused the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the former governor of the state, Aremu Olusegun Osoba of being the masterminds of the alleged fraudulent APC governorship primary that produced Mr. Dapo Abiodun as the state’s governorship candidate of the party.
Similarly, Amosun accused the party’s national chairman, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, of being an accomplice to ensure Abiodun remains 2019 governorship candidate of APC, having allegedly concocted the fake governorship primary poll results presented to the party’s national working committee (NWC).
The governor levelled the allegations against the trio, shortly after the swearing in ceremony of the new chief judge of the state, Justice Mosunmola Dipeolu in Abeokuta yesterday.
Amosun said the alleged silence of Tinubu and Osoba on the political imbroglio smacks of their alleged involvement in the electoral fraud.
He therefore challenged the duo to come out from their shells and rebut the allegations.
He also challenged them to be man enough to engage him directly, instead of hiding behind a finger.
“The president (Muhammadu Buhari) knew there was no election in Ogun State. He knows they just went to Lagos, wrote all results, and what they did is fraud. If the NWC or the national chairman said there was any election in Ogun State, it was all fraud. That is what I said.
“Mr. President already knows, there was no election in Ogun State, other than the one (that of his caucus) we held.
“The issue of Chief Osoba and Asiwaju (Tinubu) and Co, what we said was that there was an indefinite silence from their end, and silence means consent. You can record me and publish in your newspapers.
“We have not heard one word from any of them. Was there any election in Ogun State? Yes or No? They should come out and those who are hiding behind one finger, they cannot come out? People at this level should be courageous enough to take position, to come out, to come and tell us whether there was election.
“On governorship, they (Osoba’s caucus) said they did it. The one we had there was live telecast and people witnessed it; how come they are changing that again.
“They (through alleged connivance of the two APC chieftains) removed Leke Adewolu, commissioner for special duties, who now vies for Ifo/Ewekoro federal constituency in the Houses of Representatives and Mikail Kazeem, the incumbent House of Representatives member, representing Abeokuta North/Odeda/Obafemi-Owode federal constituency. All of those ones are nothing but fraud.”
As a mark of solidarity with the governor, some councillors elected on the APC platform yesterday protested peaceful at Amosun’ Oke Mosan’s office demanding the party’s NWC to recognise the candidacy of the consensus candidate of the Yewa Elders Council, Adekunle Akinlade.
Similarly, there was a counter protest match in Abeokuta business district yesterday against Amosun’s alleged plan to make the traditional rulers buy into the 2019 elections.
The protesters were made up of Ogun Progressive Students (OPS), Ogun Youth Assembly (OYAS), Coalition of Ogun Traders (COT) and civil society groups (CSGs), among others.
Amosun was alleged to have lured the Alake of Egba, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo and the Olu of Ilaro, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle, into accompanying him to Abuja on Sunday, ostensibly to help him prevail on President Muhammadu Buhari not to accept Abiodun as the APC governorship candidate for next year’s election.
The protesters marched from OPIC circle in Okelewo through Lalubu and terminated their action at the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
They described as “ridiculous” and “executive recklessness,” the alleged moves by the governor to use paramount monarchs as tools to pursue his political agenda.
Speaking on behalf of the protesting groups, the convener of OPS and OYA, Mr. Adeyemi Azeez, said posterity would not be fair to them should they fail to speak out against the governor’s alleged attempt to undermine the hard-earned integrity of the state’s traditional institution.
Azeez regretted that Amosun allegedly wanted to heat up the polity in his desperation to upturn the decision of APC’s national working committee on Abiodun and foist Akinlade as the governorship candidate of the party.
He hailed Oshiomhole and other members of the NWC for remaining loyal to the outcome of the governorship primary conducted by the Muhammad Indabawa-led committee.
“The conscious-minded Ogun State citizens have observed with keen interest the continued insistence of Governor Amosun to indirectly run a third term government by imposing his solely anointed candidate.
“We implore him to accept the democratic decision of the teeming members of APC in Ogun State. They’ve made a legitimate choice of Dapo Abiodun.
“It is as well important to remind Governor Amosun about how he was favoured with the ticket of the party in 2011 against the interest of committed party members who have sacrificed a lot for the sustenance of the party before his arrival.
“As a matter of reference, Governor Amosun clinched the ticket without any primary in 2011. In 2018, it was a keenly contested primary for the party’s governorship ticket conducted by the NWC, and Abiodun was declared winner.
“We equally condemn the ridiculous use of our paramount rulers. They are not tools in the hands of the government. We see this as executive recklessness.”
Additional reports from Daily Sun, The Nation
