The face-off between Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, and his predecessor, Ibikunle Amosun has taken another dimension after both the two accused each other of rigging the 2019 gubernatorial election in the state.
The two APC chieftains have continued to engage in a war of words ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The ongoing face-off between both personalities was further fueled by Amosun, who currently represents Ogun central senatorial district, claiming that the poll that brought Abiodun was not free and fair as many, as well as the tribunal and courts, were made to believe by the incumbent governor and his lawyers.
Not allowing the allegations raised by the ex-governor to go without being faulted, Abiodun described Amosun as an individual seeking attention and wanted to distract him from delivering on his mandate to the people, an agreement that was signed in 2019.
Amosun and the incumbent governor, who many described as a close friend to the former governor, spoke differently at the 50th anniversary of the Abeokuta Club which was attended by many personalities in the state, with Amosun speaking 24 hours before Abiodun.
Addressing newsmen after receiving his award at the event, Amosun said that the incumbent governor came into office on the back of an election that was completely rigged.
Amosun, who threw his weight behind Adekunle Akinlade and urged him to contest on the platform of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) after APC denied him its ticket, against Abiodun, stressed that the election was rigged to favour the incumbent governor.
Akinlade was defeated by Abiodun with a margin of 19,517 votes after the incumbent governor polled 241,670 votes to defeat Akinlade who had 222,153 votes.
He added that he had moved on because those who orchestrated the rigging had apologised to him and asked that he overlooked the outcome of the exercise in the state.
“During the last election, thank God, Chief Osoba is here, I have said it, we won convincingly. They rigged, rigged, and ended up with 19,000. Some of them came to apologise to me. I can be mentioning names. We won that election. But I have moved on. We did our work. We will continue to do what we have to do. God will be with all of us.”
The lawmaker, meanwhile, signaled that he may not allow his supporters to campaign for Abiodun during next year’s election, saying he must be removed.
“Well, I am happy. When you are in a place and they are telling you that you have done the work of four or five governors altogether. I feel elated. I am happy that they appreciated our little efforts.
“Just wait, very soon, you will hear where we are going next. Clearly, you know my stand, and my stand is my stand. I am not supporting this administration that is there now. He must be removed,” he added.
Responding, Abidun, who did not mention Amosun’s name directly, has reiterated that he will not be distracted by any person who has a problem with himself, saying that Ogun State is not anybody’s fiefdom.
Insisting that he would not join issues with Amosun, who was allegedly trying to play God, Abiodun promised to be more focused than before and will not be distracted by Amosun’s shenanigans.
“I will not be distracted by any person or persons who have a problem with self-delusion, I will not be distracted by any person who does not appreciate that Ogun State is not anybody’s father’s inheritance, we are all stakeholders in this commonwealth called Ogun state.
“I am not going to join issues with anyone that wants to play God, I will leave them to God, God can deal with whoever is challenging his authority and wants to play God. All I can say is that what we stand for in Ogun State is an administration that is committed to providing purposeful leadership and purposeful infrastructural development across the length and breadth of the state,” he said.
“How can we that are on the outside take on an incumbent and then be accused of rigging out an incumbent in the same party? Anyone can explain their failure whichever way they like, anyone can also begin to pant and threaten that they will do whatever”, Abiodun added.
