Governor Abiodun’s All-inclusive gaffe
By Olawale Aikulola
Not a few eyebrows were raised when Governor Dapo Abiodun informed staieholders in Ogun All Progressives Congress (APC) of his novel idea of an ‘all-inclusive governance’. Many frowned at the idea seeing it as a demonstration of political naivety and a shortcut to shortchange loyal partymen.
Although some of them ventilated their views at a couple of fora, the views of apostles of ‘Power is Right’ gained the upper hand.
But barely 10 months into the life of the new administration, the idea has boomerang spectacularly. It has succeeded in polarizing the party by sidelining key stakeholders and sent them into political hibernation.
The curious idea has also given birth to the emergence of a fiery cabal who holds the governor and his government by it’s testicle threatening it with political strangulation.
Governor Abiodun, still battling in the euphoria of his election victory, had declared that he would run ‘an all-inclusive governance’ where members of the opposition parties would be accommodated in the APC government.
It was a novel idea which, admittedly, is a departure from the ‘winner-take-all’ approach in Nigerians political firmament.
It was gathered that the idea of ‘all-inclusive’ government stems from the believe that incumbent governors in ogun often score lesser votes at subsequent election than they score during the first election. They reasoned that the 21, 000 margin of victory by Dapo Abiodun would be wiped ed out in 2023, hence the plot to decimate and cripple potential opposition.
A source very close to the corridors of power in Oke-Mosan scooped that ‘immediately the charade was announced, several party leaders, who had envisaged patronage for their efforts at the february 2019 gubernatorial battle, were wary of the idea saying it iis also fraught with political booby-traps.
But Abiodun and his spin-doctors had assured there is nothing to fear contending that the idea was to ensure political peace in the state.
Consequently, PDP members loyal to ex-Governor Gbenga Daniel, as well as supporters of Gboyega Nosir Isiaka (GNI), who was the flagbearer of African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the gubernatorial polls, were primed for plum appointments in the government.
In preparation for that,Otunba Daniel ordered his supporters to join the APC. GNI and his supporters also decamped from ADC into the APC.
Many party faithful didn’t find the idea funny. They felt it is the height of political naivety and a dangerous way to be arming one political enemies. Indeed a leader swore it is akin to political harakiri by Ogun APC.
They point at the chameleonic disposition of Otunba Daniel who is attempting to bestride both the PDP and the APC climes at the same time. They noted that although Daniel announced his resignation from the PDP,he has never masked his love for PDP and is always seen hobnobbing with PDP officials. They point at his endless romance for President Muhammadu Buhari’s most acidic critic,Atiku Abubakar.
They also argued that OGD contributed next to nothing to the victory of the APC at the gubernatorial contest. According to one aggrieved leader, ”The best way to see that he did nothing to assist APC is to compare our results in the Presidential and National Assembly elections when OGD was working for PDP with our results in the governorship election when he was purported to be working for us.
”We performed far better in the Presidential election and was far poorer in the governorship polls. I keep wondering where the vaunted influence of OGD is in the contest. It is none existent! just look at the two figures.
“indeed, i dare say that many of OGD supporters worked for GNI and his ADC at that election. Many of them saw GNI as a better gubernatorial material than Dapo Abiodun. They didnt work for APC. So why are we compensating them for working against us?’
Those who were uncomfortable with the idea also points at the itinerant nature of GNI and his undying desire to contest for the plum job in the state.
GNI, who hails from Ogun West senatorial district, had contested the governorship elections of the state in 2011, 2015 and 2019. He lost on all the occasions.
In his short political journey, GNI has flirted with PDP, PPN, LP,PDP, ADC and now APC. He is also said to be eyeing the 2023 contest.
As far as those who are against the idea is concerned, ‘Dapo Abiodun is rewarding OGD, who is a friend to the enemy of APC, and GNI ,who campaigned vigorouly against the APC at the two elections. It is a classic case of robbing Peter to pay Paul”.
Unfortunately, while the Governor was still busy trying to feed the opposition, he allowed ‘political scoundrels and power mongers’ around him to hijack his government. According to the source, ‘Although Dapo Abiodun is the one we voted for as governor,it seems the senator representing Lagos West,Olamilekan Adeola, is the one ruling our state. All his key political operators are the ones running this government. They ‘ve formed themselves into a cabal around the governor and they’re the ones determining who gets what and where. They block whoever they perceive as enemies of the Yayi-for-Ogun-Governor project.”
The source identified a one-time Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon.Tunji Egbetokun, as the arrowhead of the cabal. “Egbetokun is the head of the cabal. He gets anything he wants and appoints whoever he feels is pliable. Anyone who they cant manipulate gets nothing in the government. Unfortunately, these people running the government knows nothing about governance.”
The recklessness of the cabal knows no bound as they don’t respect even the party structure. Reports have it that the cabal is trying to usurp even the role of the party caretaker committee members.Interestingly, this is about to snowball into a showdown as the committee members have resolved to stand up to the cabal.
The party leader also poopoohed the idea tha an all inclusive govenance would weaken the opposition. He said, ‘that reasoning is infantile. Can he cripple the opposition in Ogun state?He must be joking if he thinks he can warehouse Ladi Adebutu? Can he warehouse Senator Kashamu? Can he weaken the PDP? Is he sure those OGD supporters are not just out to eat and go back to their original party? I am sure OGD sent his supporters to APC to go and eat and they’ll soon go back to PDP.”Can he even trust GNI? He should go and ask OGD and Kashamu who once acted as godfathers to GNI what regrets they had about him. Quote me. GNI is trying to use Dapo to gather the needed funds. I heard he is eyeing the Managing Directorship of Olokola. Immediately he achieves that goal, i can predict he will decamp to another party to contest in 2023.
“Can you trust GNI? A man that marries a prostitute should not bother about loyalty from her. His wife had several sex partners who would readily satisfy her urge. My worry is the governor will cause problem for APC in Ogun state in 2023.”The source pointed to the recent rerun election in 13 polling units to determine the winner of the House of Representatives in Ijebu-Ode/ Odogbolu/Ijebu North East federal constituency as a mini plebiscite on the regime.
According to him, “there are just 10,000 votes scattered in 13 polling units. APC lost that rerun election scoring just 1071 to PDPs 1271 votes. The APC was able to emerge winner because of the overall votes tally. How can a sitting governor lost election in just 13 polling units held in his backyard in Ogun East and with the acclaimed ‘all inclusiveness’ partners in place? Did u notice the poor turnout too? Less than 3000 of the 10, 000 voters came out in a place where they have the governor!”
Due to the activities of the cabal, several stakeholders in the party are now maintaining a ‘siddon-look’ attitude.The leader of the APC in the state, Aremo Segun Osoba, is reportedly unhappy with the government, while stakeholders like Tolu Odebiyi, the only senator who openly identified with Dapo Abiodun during the election, is also keeping his distance.
Indeed, all the National Assembly members who stood with Dapo Abiodun during the election are all avoiding government functions.Several other key leaders like Senators Gbenga Kaka, Lanre Tejuoso, Gbenga Obadara, Hon. Bode Mustapha, Ayo Olubori, Bimbo Ashiru,Hon Biodun Akinlade among others also remained sidelined.
A political analyst however warned, ” the problem is when politicians are mute the way these people are, dont be deceived that they are idle.They surely are not idle. They are doing something’s behind the scene. They are either plotting new battle plans or forming new alliances”. In this case, many of the aggrieved leaders are reportedly renewin their links with Senator Ibikunle Amosun.
Senator Amosun is unhappy with the role played by the party hierarchy in installing Dapo Abiodun. Although he remains in APC, he is said to be the sponsor of APM.
Recall that during the APC primaries, Senator Amosun, who was then the incumbent governor, lost a number of heavyweight supporters who felt he was attempting to plant his lackey as a successor in Oke Mosan. They decided to back Dapo Abiodun. Some of those erstwhile loyalists who dumped him for Dapo Abiodun are already regretting.The regrets is even more pronounced given that Dapo Abiodun and all the cabal around him doesn’t understand the nuances of government which has resulted in his poor performance so far.
Besides this, some people believe they won’t sit and watch Ogun state tied to the apron-string of Lagos state. According to one of them, “when we were rallying around Dapo Abiodun, those selling him to us didn’t tell us it will lead to Ogun state becoming slave to Lagos.
“To be fair, Senator Amosun warned us,but we thought he was blabbing. I must admit we were beclouded by the urge not to allow a ruling dynasty in our state, but unfortunately we were running into the arms of another dynasty. We ran into the arms of a foreign dynasty based in Lagos”
The source hinted of the coming together of a grande Alliance to confront the cabal running the APC government in the state may not be ruled out. He said ” the task before us in Ogun is to rescue our state from this emerging dynasty. Many of the things we never saw in this Ogun state are happening now. We are ready to sacrifice anything to achieve this. if God will need to forgive satan for this to happen, we will beg God to do so. We must rescue our state from these invaders.”
The source noted, “I could never had imagined I would be part of the group that would enthrone this mediocre administration in Ogun state. This government is so clueless and corrupt. I am ashamed to be part of it’s formation.
“It took this governor nine months to assemble ‘certificate forgers’ only to insult the state by declaring them ‘best brains’! The governor and the cabal are so clueless that for over two months after the inauguration of the cabinet, they could not hold an Exco meeting.”In this our Ogun state,people now purchase political appointments! Yes, people pay huge sums to be given political appointment into government and they sign undertakings to pay certain amount of money every month to the cabal.
“Corporate organisations seeking to see the governor pays between N500k to N2 million before they can be allowed. I wonder who is collecting such money, or is it another source of IGR (Internally Generated Revenue)? We ‘ve resolved to rescue our state. And the effort wont be
partisan”.============================*Olawale Aikulola is a Public Affairs Analyst based in Mango-Ota, Ogun State. He can be reached on olawaleaikulola@yahoo.com