Echotitbits – Nigeria News

Tag: APM

  • Is Senator Amosun really an “Alaseju”?

    Is Senator Amosun really an “Alaseju”?

    By Atanda Odewole

    Keen observers of Ogun State political developments are still trying to discern the outcome of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries. On one hand, the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) seems to be irreconcilably divided with the Dayo Adedayo led faction emerging victorious through the judicial process. This has almost certainly assured Senator Buruji Kashamu the gubernatorial ticket.

    On the other hand, the Ogun APC primaries brought a different dimension. While the PDP gladiators fought their battles in courts, the Ogun APC leaders opted to settle scores through the ballots. A former Governor of the State, in tango with an erstwhile Governor of Lagos State have pitched their tent with the official APC candidate, Prince Dapo Abiodun, who emerged through a process described by most observers as lacking democratic participation by APC party members. In essence, Prince Abiodun’s emergence as the gubernatorial candidate was ordained by the aforementioned erstwhile Governors through the National Chairman of APC Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

    The other party in the Ogun APC, simply opted to restructure their electoral participation through the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), where Governor Amosun’s preferred gubernatorial candidate and many others emerged as INEC recognised candidates for various elective offices.

    So what could have led to this scenario? Is this a case of Ogun APC becoming the jewel of the shrine in the 2023 political calculations of Capo Du Tutti? Or as some have suggested that the Governor is an “Alaseju”.

    Be that as it may, the point must be made that as fractious as APC appears, the opposition, as personified by PDP, is equally so weak that it poses little threat to the outcomes of the 2019 Ogun electoral battles.

    But in order to comprehend the causal factor of the Ogun APC fracture, it is necessary to highlight the departing pressure points. First is the October 2nd 2018 gubernatorial primary and second the October 7th primary. Both primaries were conducted by two different NWC panels led by Indabawa and Col. Ali Ciroma (Rtd.). The October 2nd 2019 primary conducted by the Indabawa NWC panel became controversial following the annulment of the primary results that threw up Hon. Abiodun Akinlade as the winner. On another note, the October 7th national and state assembly primaries were rancour-free and the results were declared by the NWC Panel Chairman Col. Ali Ciroma (Rtd). These results, won fairly by Amosun loyalists, were also jettisoned by the Chairman of APC Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on the instigation of the aforementioned erstwhile Governors. It is this that finally led to the parting of ways by the Ogun APC leaders.

    Bearing these in mind, the question that lingers in the minds of some who desired mechanical unity is that “Is Amosun an Alaseju?” As the leader of APC in Ogun State, Senator Amosun has tried his best to keep the party together as one family. Up till September 2018, before the primaries, the party was strong and united. If all other things were to remain equal, there is a high probability that the APC will coast home to victory in the 2019 governorship election without much ado.

    But the same cannot be said of Ogun APC today. The party is now in a big mess following the controversial primary election in which the mandate given to Hon. Adekunle Abdulkabir Akinlade was annulled and handed over to Mr. Dapo Abiodun by the Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party. This was a rape of democracy, the height of injustice and the most inglorious electoral robbery ever perpetrated in the history of APC.

    It is only natural that the governor, who is the leader and conscience of the party, must respond to that development. In the midst of his response, which was not palatable to his detractors, we often hear a riposte that Senator Amosun is an “alaseju”, meaning, when literally translated, that he is overdoing things and cannot be kept under check. Haba! I am tempted to say that this kind of riposte on the part of some supposedly learned individuals lacks a sense of history and fails to understand the power play within the party.

    A recount of how the APC under Senator Amosun got to where it was, before hell was let loose, will clear the air. Prior to the 2015 elections, a group within the party led by a respected former governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, stirred the hornets’ nest and decided to organise a parallel governorship primary in Ogun APC, which did not jell. In an attempt to avoid the shame of losing out in the primaries, Chief Osoba and co, including all their disgraced candidates, left APC to contest the election under the banner of Social Democratic Party (SDP). Osoba boasted to high heavens that the SDP would win the 2015 elections and put the Amosun-led APC to ignominy. As it turned out, the results showed that Chief Osoba and his group were electoral liabilities as they lost the 2015 elections woefully.

    The Amosun-led APC won the said elections with a landslide victory. Senator Amosun immediately initiated policies that transformed the APC into a virile and the most organised chapter of the party in the country. As it were, the rancour-free congresses of the party in May 2018 had kept the other chapters in the country wondering how the Ogun State chapter did it.

    Though Chief Osoba and co found themselves back in APC on the eve of 2015 elections, one cannot really blame them for this. Chief Osoba is a well discerned politician. He realised that while he was outside the APC, Senator Amosun had used his resources to build the party. There is nothing bad in wanting to be part of the success story. However, Chief Osoba and co had a different agenda; the intention was to come and hijack the APC structure and feed fat where they didn’t sow.

    What happened before, during and after the primaries in Ogun APC is no longer news. Chief Osoba, in concert with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Chairman of the party, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, upturned the will of the people and imposed Mr. Dapo Abiodun as the governorship candidate of APC in Ogun State. The imposition of Mr. Dapo Abiodun was a volte-face.

    In his response to this treachery, Senator Amosun didn’t do anything unwieldy to warrant the shout of “alaseju” as some gullible observers would want us to believe.  He only allowed those who were cheated in the primaries to exercise their democratic rights. Would it be right for Senator Amosun to stop them from dumping APC and moving to a new party?

    Indeed it is unreasonable to expect Senator Amosun to agree to the Oshiomhole-led treachery. It would have amounted to committing a political hara-kiri, just as Wole Soyinka said: “The man dies in him who keeps silence in the face of tyranny.”

    Senator Amosun is perceived to have acted rightly by standing firm without betraying his conscience.

  • Ogun 2019: GNI, Amosun aide disagree on OGD vs SIA administration

    Ogun 2019: GNI, Amosun aide disagree on OGD vs SIA administration

    By Tobiloba Kolawole

     

    The governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Ogun State, Gboyega Isiaka, says the Ibikunle Amosun led government ranks low compared to the administration of former governor, Gbenga Daniel.

    The governorship hopeful bared his mind while speaking to Seun Okinbaloye of Channels TV in Lagos recently.

    He said the APC led government has not done well in eight years “in the sense of even development of the state, in the sense of priority setting for the state, in terms of looking at potentials for the state, particularly economic potentials for the state and try to wake them up”.

    Isiaka accused Amosun of favouring Abeokuta central, where the governor hails from, by concentrating many of his projects there.

    He stated that: “Amosun’s development approach is lopsided and not balanced to benefit all parts of the state. He concentrated largely on one area, which is road construction in the centre. I do not have any problem with developing the centre, but that should not be done at the extreme expense of other areas and other sectors particularly human capital development.

    “At the end of the day, what this generation will leave for the next generation is the knowledge that we have left in the heads of our people. I think that the government now has not done enough in that area. Again, I think we have too much economic potential that we needed to have continued and do a lot about but he did not do”, Isiaka said.

    Isiaka who was appointed a pioneer Group Managing Director of Gateway Holdings in 2004 by former governor Gbenga Daniel reacted to rumours that if he won the governorship election, he would be a string tied to the apron of his former boss.

    He said: “I don’t know what that means. I had an opportunity of working with that government, I will not deny that. I think you should ask an average person on the street of Ogun state today and now that they’ve had the opportunity of another governor for 8 years, to pick out of the two. I believe very strongly that majority will pick the government of Otunba Gbenga Daniel.”

    The former Special Assistant on Investment in the last administration reiterated his plan to rule the state through a strategy he calls ‘7 Steps to Abundance’. He explained that: “What we mean by that is that an average Ogun state man and woman, young and old should live a fulfilled life, should be able to achieve his potential giving the wherewithal and resources that we have as a state; should be able to live a decent life giving what we have.

    While answering questions on his claim to return missionary schools to private founders, which is generating reactions among stakeholders, Isiaka denied making such promise.

    He stated that: “It was wrongly reported by the press. What we said is that we will encourage NGOs, private institutions and missionaries in whichever religion, to participate and partake in school development. But that will be done within laid down rules, guidelines and principles.”

    “We also said that immediately we get into office, we will call an education summit because the state of our education in Ogun State now is nothing to write home about. We are going to have a comprehensive education summit. We are of the view that we should encourage private sector involvement and this is done everywhere. In Lagos state you have own a school; you have alumni participating in schools, you have all manners of these things happening”, Isiaka said.

    However, a member of Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s cabinet, Adeniyi Adesanya has described Isiaka’s claims as erroneous and an attempt to score cheap political goals that is bound to fail.

    Adesanya, who is a consultant with the Ogun State Government, warned that people should not hide under politicking to spew erroneous information just to malign the sitting governor.

    He said: “When you talk, you must back it up with reasons. I am bold enough to say that erroneous impression will not augur well for any development issue especially now that we are politicking.”

    “Governor Amosun has done very wonderfully well in social, economy etc. My dear aburo there, Isiaka, of course going back the days we would say that Yewa people deserve governorship but that is not to say that we should malign anybody, Adesanya said.

    The former Special Adviser to the governor on Political Affairs added that it is only logical and sensible to ensure there is adequate development at the capital, which serves as the centre of all economic activities in the state.

    He further said that “when we came in to government in 2011, the internally generated revenue was around N700 million. So I ask one of them talking now, where were they when Amosun in his energetic self called all of us that we must all be on our toes at ensuring that we raise the revenue of the state? Now as I speak, the revenue of the state is about N7 billion. That happened because somebody is there who pays attention to details and fears God.”

    Adesanya emphasized that a capital city should have the trappings of its status: “When you go to the UK, are you saying Kent should be developed more than the centre, which is London, or Manchester, Glasgow more developed? The capital is the centre of economic sanctity. Therefore, when you have a capital, it must look like a capital. Abeokuta for too long has experienced a lot of underdevelopment. It is the benefit of the capital that will spread to all other parts of the state.

    “I will ask this person that is talking (Isiaka), is Imeko Afon the way it used to be? In Ilaro, Aiyetoro, go and see what we did there, it is monumental, even my own town in Sagamu”, he said.