Our attention has been drawn to a write-up currently making the rounds on social media written by some of the Media friends of Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, in response to a political story CityPeople published this week about the political situation in Ogun State. The article titled: Why Many Politicians Are Angry With Gov. Abiodun reported the ongoing political battle in the state, amongst the major gladiators and how all the various camps are jostling for power.
A few hours after the story hit the streets, the media allies of Governor Abiodun, responded to the story, alleging that our analysis of the political situation in the state is not true and that the governor is the best thing that has ever happened to Ogun State in terms of performance and delivery. The writer went further to allege that we are out to rubbish all the good works the governor has been doing since 2019.
We have refused to be drawn into any media war with anyone or platform. We have also restrained ourselves from joining issues with the writer of the piece who says because “CityPeople is a soft-sell magazine, therefore it is only an unserious person that will write a supposedly serious political piece in it”.
But all we want to add is that CityPeople is not part of any campaign to disparage Gov Dapo Abiodun or to stop his 2nd term bid, in any way or form, or to launch a debate with the writer on whether there is Vacancy or No Vacancy at Oke Mosan in Abeokuta come 2023, we wish the governor the very best of luck in his bid to secure a second term in 2023.
Below is the story published by CityPeople on Monday, November 22, 2023, and immediately after it is the reply by the Governor’s media friends.
It reads:
“These days, in Ogun State, when you see politicians gather in twos and threes, most of the time, their topic of discussion is usually about Gov. Dapo Abiodun, the Ogun State Governor.
From Yewa to Abeokuta, to the Ijebu area of the state, the style of administration of Prince Dapo Abiodun, has been a source of major concern for them. Wherever you turn, he has become the main issue in political discussions. Many politicians across the state are very unhappy with his style of administration. They complain that they cannot positively feel the impact of his governance. They are not happy with the fact that he has not fulfilled all his promises to both the Electorate and some of his party members. They allege that all the promises he made to many individuals and groups in 2019 have not been fulfilled. They argue that to enable the governor to win in 2019, he promised many groups who worked for him and those who collaborated with him, things that he has not fulfilled.
They also complained that unlike previous governors of the state whom they could reach via their phones and WhatsApp messages, the governor has been incommunicado for months. They claim that even his Commissioners & Special Advisers find it difficult to reach him on important matters. They say he only sees those he wants to see.
Part of the allegation is that he does not give them free hand to do anything and he has not empowered them financially to spend when they need to, on the running of their offices.
Why many politicians are angry is also because all the far-reaching changes he promised when he came in have not been fulfilled. For instance, he promised to correct all the shortcomings of his predecessors (Amosun) in terms of reaching out to party faithful at the Wards and local government levels, but he has abandoned them, with the effect that a lot of party members at the various levels have become very frustrated. Even the elders of the party are unhappy too.
Expectedly, other party leaders and those in the Opposition have seized control to build on Gov. Dapo Abiodun’s shortcoming.
This explains why Ogun APC, which he is the leader of, is now sharply divided, with Senator Ibikunle Amosun leading the second group, within the party. As you read this, Senator Ibikunle Amosun controls a big chunk of members of the party and they have promised to totally hijack the party structure from Dapo Abiodun.
What these politicians who are angry have decided to do, is to make sure he does not get the party ticket to enable him to run for 2nd-term and if he gets it, they will make sure he loses at the polls eventually.
Like one of them put it, they will give him the kind of treatment they gave the Amosun Group in 2019 that gave Abiodun the chance to win.
And City People gathered that they are serious about it. For quite some time now, Amosun has emerged as the alternative governor in the state. He is the one that party members go to for support. His Abeokuta GRA house has been turned into a Mecca, as he attends to the requests of people on a daily basis. At festive periods, his house is where party faithful go to and they usually leave with goodie bags of basic human needs for their families.
As it is, the governor has lost political grip of the party, because many of those who the government sees as his loyalists are the ones who are complaining the most, because like they say, the governor has not empowered them to help take care of the party leaders at the word level and grassroots. “That is why many Local Government Chairmen and Councillors are unhappy with Mr Governor.” explained a source. “When he came into power, he promised to empower them. Part of the complaints he made about his predecessor was that Amosun did not support the party leaders at the grassroots and that he starved the LG leaders of sufficient funds to actualise their mandate. He then promised that if he is made governor he will pay a lot of attention to the wards and local governments. This he has not done”.
At it is now, not only are Ogun APC political leaders angry with Gov. Dapo Abiodun, many of them are no longer loyal to him. And this has eroded his political base.
For instance, the 3 Senators in Ogun State are not with him. They are all close to Senator Ibikunle Amosun. That is why Senator Ibikunle Amosun has become their rallying point. Senator Lekan Mustapha and Senator Tolu Odebiyi now work as a team, with no relationship whatsoever with the governor. To further send a political message to Abiodun, the 3 Senators now sit together at the chambers of the Senate each time there is a sitting and they often take photos of the 3 of them together which goes viral online.
Ogun traditional rulers are also not happy with him because they feel abandoned. The traditional rulers in his axis are also not happy with him.
Many of them seem loyal to previous governors. They also complain that the governor has not fulfilled his promise to many of them over time. That is why his relationship with them has suffered greatly. As it is, what all the various groups are looking forward to is the 2023 general elections when they will have the chance to show their displeasure through their votes.
Part of the anger of the politicians and party leaders can be seen in the way and manner some of them are propping up Hon. Ladi Adebutu who wants to be the next governor of the state. Ladi is in PDP. He is from Iperu-Remo like the governor, but his activities are fast gaining ground.
Many politicians have vowed to battle the governor with Ladi Adebutu when elections come.
They are also working on how to further weaken the political base of the governor in the Ogun East Senatorial District. City People gathered that Amosun has made great inroads into the governor’s political base in Ogun State.
The incumbent Senator Lekan Mustapha is his best friend.
Hon. Ladi Adebutu is also close to Amosun. He supported Akinlade, Amosun’s candidate for governor then, who contested on the platform of APM. Ladi then entered into an agreement with APM, rather than work with Dapo Abiodun. Hon. Ladi Adebutu who is no stranger to prestigious titles – Okanlomo – Iperu Akesan, Lisa Aje-Egba has just been honoured this time, by the Lopere unit, under the leadership of his father, Balogun Kessington Adebutu has found LADO more than worthy to become their SERIKI.
The governor also is not on good terms with the Adebutu family, which is a big family in Iperu. The politics of the town has also put his Oba in a difficult position.
He is popularly called Baba Governor because he is the king of the governor’s town, but he has not been able to bring rapid development to the town as expected.
Dapo Abiodun has been Governor of Ogun State since winning the 2019 general elections under the platform of the All Progressives Congress. Dapo Abiodun was the board Chairman of the Corporate Affairs Commission. Prior to his assumption of office, he was the Managing Director of Heyden Petroleum and the founder of First Power Limited. On 10th March, 2019, he was declared Governor-Elect of Ogun State by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Abiodun was born on 29th May 1960 in Iperu-Remo, Ogun State, to the royal family of Iperu. He was born into the family of Dr Emmanuel Abiodun and Mrs Victoria Abiodun from Iperu-Remo, in Ogun East senatorial district.
Abiodun is a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, although he is currently a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) defecting after the 2015 general elections. He contested the Ogun East senatorial seat on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 Nigerian general elections which he lost to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate. He was elected a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the platform of the defunct United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) in 1998. He has served as a member of various presidential committees and organisations. In 2019, he contested in the gubernatorial elections in Ogun State and won, under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He was sworn in as Governor of Ogun State on 29th May 2019.
He is a born again Christian and worships with the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry. He has testified that despite much opposition to him getting into the office of Ogun State Governor, God still got him there.
Below is the response from Gov Abiodun’s media aides:
“Some men are like sunshine, they illuminate the faces; some men are like the rain, they make people grow; some are like a hurricane, they wreak havoc, and yet others are like the flood, they destroy everything on their path – Chinese proverb”
“In spite of the futility of the efforts to disparage the Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun by its traducers, the poorly-written and disjointed piece titled, “WHY MANY OGUN POLITICIANS ARE ANGRY WITH GOV. ABIODUN” in the 22 November 2021 of the City People Magazine was a part of the media onslaught that was masterminded to up the ante. This is more so because of its timing to coincide with a critical period of projecting the image of those who are interested in the “Oke Mosan 2023” Whereas, there is no vacancy. “
“They tried in the past and failed. This is God’s project and from the look of things, it seems the hack writers are bellyaching over the rising profile of Prince Abiodun and the series of reports by more competent researchers, verifiable pundits and writers who averred that the governor deserves a second term.
Since the failed attempt to scuttle the mandate bestowed on Prince Abiodun in April 2019 at the polls and in court and the pull-him-down tactics of opposition elements (even within the All Progressives’ Party in the State) could not hold water and recent opinion polls by major newspapers and platforms suggest the governor was on a roller coaster back to Oke Mosan in 2023, some politicians have not had any rest.
Interestingly, to the utter consternation of its sponsors, the energy and resources invested in the project amounted to a sheer waste of time. At best, it was akin to shaking the giant Olumo Rock to gain dewdrops. The rock remains strong and unscathed by the undiluted lies and half-truths that are strewn throughout the putrid piece. Well, the magazine is a soft-sell magazine: it is only an unserious person that will write a supposedly serious political piece in it.
The pathetic piece opened with, “These days, in Ogun State, when you see politicians gather in twos and threes, most of the time, their topic of discussion is usually about Gov. Dapo Abiodun, the Ogun State Governor.” This is a pedestrian statement without a supporting fact or figure. Visibly, it is deliberately concocted to suit the false narrative. The writer continued: “They argue that to enable the governor win in 2019, he promised many groups who worked for him and those who collaborated with him, things that he has not fulfilled.,” “Why many politicians are angry is also because all the far-reaching changes he promised when he came in have not been fulfilled. For instance, he promised to correct all the shortcomings of his predecessors (Amosun) in terms of reaching out to party faithful at the Wards and local government levels, but he has abandoned them, with the effect that a lot of party members at the various levels have become very frustrated. Even the elders of the party are unhappy too.” This clearly shows the handiwork of some disgruntled politicians who want the Governor to place politicians above the good people of the state who have elected him and, that, he is responsible to. It is time we separated politics from serving the good people of a state who deserve to enjoy the dividends of democracy.
Unlike the respected ThisDay newspaper that published “Opposition Bellyaching, Abidoun deserves a second term” or “Abiodun: Boardroom as a Political Tactician” published by the authoritative Cable newspaper or even the empirical vox pop titled “Dapo Abiodun deserves the second term, say Ogun residents” conducted by Hassan Muaz first published by Eagleonline and widely syndicated across many political journals and online platforms globally, the hack writer laboured in vain to put a name to all insinuations made.
Discursively, taking the recurrent phrase “they say” into consideration, it is crystal clear that the piece is predicated on hearsay/beer-parlour gist. Additionally, by the writer’s jaundiced conclusion that, “For quite some time now, Amosun has emerged as the alternative governor in the state. He is the one that party members go to for support. His Abeokuta GRA house has been turned into a Mecca, as he attends to the requests of people on a daily basis. At festive periods, his house is where party faithful go to and they usually leave with goodie bags of basic human needs for their families.” shows their failed attempt at branding the power-wrestling former Governor of Ogun State and the packaging of Hon. Ladi Adebutu all in a futile attempt to project the name of their candidate in the media.
One wonders where the alienation theorists got their hypothesis from? They further claim that “even his Commissioners & Special Advisers find it difficult to reach him on important matters. They say he only sees those he wants to see. Part of the allegation is that he does not give them free hand to do anything and he has not empowered them financially to spend when they need to, on the running of their offices”.
Of course, the Commissioners are on the same page with their principal who understands that their welfare is of essence. All the Governor’s team meet him, at least once in a week for State Executive Council meetings and anytime any matter of urgent importance arises, they have unfettered access to the principal. To state that they are not empowered is a misnomer. Ogun State has owed no salary under Prince Abiodun and they all receive other pecks like monthly allowances, office imprests, running cost, and other ancillary benefits that they deserve. If the writer wants the Governor to open the State vault for his appointees so that they can slot in corruption charges against the governor they will wait in vain for the man that lay in wait by the river to see when the crab will sleep!
The mission is clear to sow a seed of discord between the members of the APC which the Governor is ably leading, rip apart the successful inclusive governance which all politicians, administrators, statesmen, professionals, industrialist, market women and women, as well as youths, students and opinion leaders have keyed into to have easy access to the people’s commonwealth. No, it won’t work.
From the foregoing, a lesson is visible: the project failed partly because it was deceitful and an overkill. The piece dropped without a whimper. The social media that should have ordinarily buzzed ignored it like a plague.
Also, every incident is always either a blessing or a lesson. The Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun has every reason to consider it a blessing on the one hand for having free publicity. As it happens in literary and other criticisms, every criticism ultimately is an indirect projection of its object. The most criticized works ultimately become the most popular and the critics of the Governor have to be thanked for contributing to the prominence and visibility the Governor enjoys.
Finally, as usual, they have failed again at their attempt to drag the white garment of the Governor through the mire. After all, no one stones a tree that bears sour fruits but everyone stones the tree that bears tasty fruits. Abiodun is a tasty fruit, it is no surprise that detractors would not give him a breathing space.
Again, the writer LIED.
While we wish Gov. Abiodun the best in his bid to retain his seat come 2023, we reiterate that we have nothing against his person or his administration. We also maintained that CityPeople, beyond mirroring the lifestyle of celebrities, remains a core medium for the very best in celebrity reporting which encompasses all facets of life.
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