The ways of billionaires are not the ways of mere mortals. That is the lesson billionaire businessman, Dr. Dapo Abiodun, has taught his erstwhile friend, Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State. Since he became governor, Amosun steadily evolved into the de facto leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ogun State. He determined the political fate of everybody regardless of their pedigree.
Leaders like former governor Olusegun Osoba were virtually forced out of the party to pave way for the brash-talking and condescending governor who carried on like the party was his private business. Amosun would shock the people of Ogun State and indeed, discerning Nigerians, when news emerged last month that he had unilaterally drawn up a list of candidates for the party in the general election and subsequently announced Abiodun Akinlade, a member of the House of Representatives, as his anointed for the governorship ticket.
Amosun reportedly told Abiodun, a successful businessman and Chairman of Heyden Group among other lucrative ventures, in no uncertain terms, that he would not support his ambition. If Abiodun was aghast, he didn’t show it. The Iperu-born prince went about his ambition without fuss. Angry members of the APC in Ogun could read between the lines – Amosun simply wanted a lackey that he could easily manipulate from his obscenely-appointed country home in Ibara GRA, Abeokuta. And Akinlade ticks all the boxes. A happy-go-lucky 48-year-old dandy who is more dilettante than diligent, Akinlade is married to a former beauty queen, Chineye Ochuba.
By the estimation of Ogun indigenes, Akinlade would do better as a Commissioner for Tourism to give free reign to his predilections, rather than foist on him the serious job of governing a state, much more a cosmopolitan one like Ogun. Like a dog fated to loss, Amosun typically turned a deaf ear to wise counsel.
When the governorship primary held on Wednesday, October 3rd, Amosun’s candidate was roundly beaten by Abiodun who polled 102,305 votes. Akinlade came a distant third with 23, 443 votes. Predictably, Amosun went ballistic, stumping and swearing, spitting into the air and receiving it with measured cadence.
Alongside other disgruntled governors, he scurried to Abuja where he met with the President on Thursday but nothing came of it after which the APC acting National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, issued a statement, saying, “The Party’s National Working Committee at its meeting held on Thursday, 4th October, 2018 ratified the reports of the various Electoral Committees and adopts the under-listed as Governorship candidates of the APC for the forthcoming 2019 general elections.” Abiodun’s name was listed.
Amosun didn’t give up. His propaganda machinery went into overdrive, claiming via a viral press release that the party, after the president’s intervention, had replaced Abiodun with Akinlade as the party’s standard bearer. But those who know say he is fighting a lost battle. Helped into office by the political machinery of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Osoba, Amosun’s magisterial nature soon came to the fore the moment he was sworn in. He did away with his godfathers, dared them and chose to dine with President Buhari who he has now realised is more concerned about his second term ambition than sticking out his neck for a recalcitrant governor.
As things stand, Amosun is yet running helter-skelter, imploring and consulting to have his way but the die seems cast as the good and law-abiding people of Ogun State may have also thrown their weight behind the candidature of the easy-going Abiodun. Fingers are still crossed on Amosun’s next line of action while Abiodun has moved to the next stage of proper preparations for the 2019 election.
Source: TheCapital.ng