Still insistent on working against his party’s candidate for the Ogun governorship race in 2019, Dapo Abiodun, the outgoing governor has refused to be placated. Insisting that it’s either his choice or no one else, the former senator who loves sky-high caps has also not spared his party chairman, Adams Oshiomhole and even party elders like Bola Tinubu, whom he accused of masterminding the political logjam currently being witnessed in the Gateway State.
Accusing them also of interference and manipulation, his latest action was to shun a reconciliation committee set up by his party to see how all pending issues could be amicably resolved. Amosun was conspicuously missing at their meeting in Lagos.
Hitherto adjudged the most influential governor in the current dispensation, things started falling apart for Amosun immediately John Odigie-Oyegun, the party’s former chairman lost his position to Oshiomhole.
Unable to ‘instal’ his favourite, Abdulkadir Akinlade as the APC candidate, Amosun remained silent as all his supporters, including Akinlade, dumped APC for the Allied People’s Movement (APM).
Interestingly, he is still in APC, armed with their senatorial ticket and vowing to work for President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election only. Both men used to enjoy a fantastic relationship until Buhari couldn’t do anything about his political travails. ‘Now, their relationship is no longer what it used to be’, said one insider to YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine.
The said reconciliation meeting, which Amosun absented himself from and equally failed to send any representative to, held at the State House, Marina, Lagos, on Wednesday, December 12, 2018. And among those present for the resolution of their issues were APC members from Lagos, where Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, a member of the team was also denied a second term ticket, Ogun and so on.
Advising all the aggrieved members to forgive and forget, and then work for the success of the party at all levels in the 2019 elections, Ambode and his Borno State counterpart, Kashim Shettima, the committee chairman, persistently advised against rocking the boat.
Appealing for calm, peace and unity, Ambode told all those present that, “More significantly, we can see from the reflection of those here and I can declare that we do not have any issue in Lagos State and that we are one family. But again, that is not to say that there is no platform for reconciliation; we do not know whether there are some aspirants in the crowd who are aggrieved, but we can say affirmatively as a party that we are one family in Lagos State.
“This is not, however, to create any prejudice to whatever is happening in Ogun State. Without the setting up of this Committee, it is very clear that things are not the same in Ogun State like we have in Lagos State and we do recognize that. That is why this Committee is more or less anxious to see whatever it is that we can use as ingredients in creating peace in Ogun State.
“Whatever happens in Ogun is a reflection of what is happening in the whole of the Southwest and we are ready to make sure that this our Committee brings everybody back into one family fold. So, we have come with open mind and even when closures have been made, the feelings and input here is what we are taking to Abuja tomorrow and also making sure that NWC (National Working Committee) get a very clear picture of how you feel and ultimately if there is a need to let the highest organ of the party intervene in a way that everything that is happening in Ogun State reflects what is happening in Lagos State; we would be very happy to do it and we are committed to making sure that every representation is taken to party headquarters for redress and whatever it is that can be done,” he added.
“This is a peace and reconciliation session and just like the Chairman (Shettima) has said, there is no clearer example of how peace can be attained than the steps that I have taken personally to make sure that the APC family is united in Lagos and you can just imagine if we are having the same reflection of what is happening in Ogun in Lagos, it would be totally unmanageable and so it takes a lot of sacrifice and selflessness for us to attain what we want and the ultimate which is to win the 2019 elections.
“It is when we win the election that we can create a larger platform to move away from reconciliation to compensation and I think that is the message that we have come to send here. If you are able to submit yourself to the overriding interest of the party, even where reconciliation cannot actually meet your innermost feeling, there is still a platform for compensation,” Ambode counseled.
When contacted, one of Amosun’s aides who spoke to YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine on the condition of anonymity gave these two reasons for his boss’ absence: “One, the venue wasn’t okay. The man accused those behind his problems to be in Lagos and now you are expecting him to come to the same Lagos for the resolution of the same matter. A neutral venue may have swayed him and also the constitution of its members.
”The second one is timing. It’s already too late to broker peace. The parties have submitted their list of candidates. INEC has also published theirs. So, what is there to be remedied? Once the head is off, nothing else matters. We are ready for the battle. And it’s either we win or we lose. We can’t chicken out like Ambode did in Lagos.”