Drama seems to have started unfolding ahead of 2019 general elections as some members of Ogun West Elders’ Council have pointed accusing fingers at the former governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba as their arch enemy who has been instrumental to their inability to produce governor of the State since it was created over 40-years ago.
Chief Olusegun Osoba
According to the group which was led by its chairman, Chief Mohammed Ajibola Olagbaye, while addressing newsmen at the Iwe Iroyin Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists’, accused Chief Osoba of anti-Ogun West position in clinching the State governorship seat in 2019.
Olagbaye alleged that the former governor presented his two-time Secretary to the State Government, Chief Poju Adeyemi ‘a bad birthday gift’ on his 80th birthday anniversary, when Osoba said that; “people of Ogun West should not be carried away, that APC has not zoned governorship to any section of the State ahead of the 2019 polls”, and that Ogun East Senatorial District was eligible to contest for the governorship seat”.
“Seemingly responding to Governor Amosun’s repeated declaration for Ogun West, Chief Osoba reportedly said that no single individual in the party, no matter how highly placed, could determine where the next governor of the State would come from.”
He further alleged that Osoba equally said; “as a party, we have not zoned the governorship seat. There is nothing like zoning of office in the past. We give opportunity to anyone to aspire, but we always used maturity to settle it among us. That unwritten; it is a convention. It is not the rule, and nobody will go against the agreement”.
Olagbaye alleged that the former governor has five times thwarted the efforts of Ogun West in becoming governor of the State since 1992, positing that he has turned the zone to “use and dump entity”.
He added that, due to Amosun’s public and repeated assurance that he would hand over power to Yewa candidate in 2019, the leaders from Ogun West Senatorial District had to support Governor Amosun against Chief Osoba when there was leadership tussle between the two leaders in 2014 and the crisis led to Osoba leaving APC to SDP in the wake of the 2015 general elections.
“Chief Osoba could not win a single seat in the State House of Assembly. In any case, did the leader, himself win his polling unit. Did the SDP gubernatorial candidate win his unit? Did the SDP Chairman win his polling unit? That election showed clearly who owned “the papa’s land”, Olagbaye said.
He noted that with Osoba’s position on the 2019 governorship seat and Ogun West agenda, the elder statesman has not changed its mind in thwarting Ogun West agenda of becoming Ogun State governor in 2019.
“When he talked about “party”, one wonders which party he was talking about; APC or SDP. By his latest statement, it shows that Chief Osoba is still anti-Amosun and Anti-Ogun West”, Olagbaye said.
“Contrariwise, Amosun has done what other past governors could not muster courage to do. He has taken what he has been promising us behind the closed doors to the public arena. He has shown uncommon courage, demonstrating to the world that he is a man of his words. We trust, and we are praying, that Amosun will ensure that his name is written in gold by 2019, when his successor, by God’s grace, will emerge from Ogun West. We say bye-bye to “sitting room declaration”
Olagbaye declared that: “The elders council is unmindful of their irredentist enemies out there are already at work, sponsoring candidates meant to divide us. Already, we are aware of “Atohunriwas”, “Tokunbos” (foreigners). We will bluntly and vehemently reject those candidates. Where Amosun goes, we will go. Our people are wiser now. They know who their friends are, and who their foes are”.
He therefore appealed to all political parties in the State to ensure that their gubernatorial candidates are picked from Ogun West in 2019
– Wale Adewunmi, Ogun State Correspondent