•The Story Of The OGUN PDP Guber Candidate
These are exciting times for Hon. Ladi Adebutu, the Ogun PDP governorship candidate. He is happy at the news of Sen. Demola Adeleke’s victory in Osun, over the incumbent APC Governor, Oyetola. Adeleke’s victory has now given him hope that his ambition in Ogun State is feasible and reliable. As it is, the political pendulum in Ogun State is swinging in the way of Hon. Ladi Adebutu, the flagbearer of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and son of a popular billionaire, Chief Adebutu Kesington Adebutu.
Prince Dapo Abiodun, being the captain of the team, cannot but keep his focus on how to deliver on his electoral promises to make the state the envy of all. Hon. Ladi is busy cleaning out the teeming numbers of loyalists of the APC and other minority parties and strengthening his base from within the state and external network.
Let’s be the first to tell you that Hon. Ladi has built a strong base of die-hard followers across the 20 local governments of the state, including the association of market women, the meat sellers, the Adire association, farmers, and youths. They now canvass for Adebutu religiously. They also move en masse whenever Ladi Adebutu is having any social or political function to support him. They are ever ready whenever they are called upon. So are the old men and women of Ogun State. How did Adebutu become a strong force in Ogun politics, you may ask?
Honourable Oladipupo Adebutu, a 2-time member of the House of Representatives, is a governorship candidate in the Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with evident community-based projects that can still be pointed to up till today.
Sagamu, Ikenne, and Remo North were the local governments that Ladi Adebutu represented while he was a Reps member. He did the highest number of projects in the history of the constituency and he is still very influential in those areas.
One of the key modalities that are working for Hon Ladi, according to some analysts, is the fact that he is looking beyond party affiliation in his bid to win the governorship election in 2023. Over this Ileya season, he reached out to many Muslims and community leaders across the state, especially in the Ijebu axis. He gave out ram gifts and doled out Sallah money to hundreds of party leaders in all the parties.
“Unfortunately, the governor did not do the needful,” explained one party Chieftain. “What the Governor did not do for us, Ladi Adebutu did for us.”
Insiders say that Ladi has been like this for years. They reveal that he uses the festive periods to reach out to even his opponents. He has paid his dues.
He has been around for no fewer than 3 decades and has been involved in local and grassroots politics for that long.
According to a new member of the PDP who just moved in from the APC, Ladi Adebutu did not win the 2019 gubernatorial elections only because his name was not on the ballot paper. “In terms of popularity across the board, he is there; in project execution, we can score him 80 percent even as a lawmaker; in terms of investment, Ladi has invested more than any native of the state so far. He has a very large farm; he runs a brewery and he has oil and gas companies here in Ogun, he has employed over 5000 youths as a businessman.”, he said.
A member of his team who spoke to City People said one key thing he learned from Hon, Ladi is his Humility.
“Despite being a billionaire, he enjoys identifying with the less privileged. He doesn’t class himself in any way and he listens to superior ideas regardless of whoever it’s coming from.
He would always say, “I am a poor farmer. I ranch cattle. I have a pig farm, and a citrus farm and I manage my life. I do some real estate. I am building a processing plant to put a value on the animals I have ranched. I get by, that’s all.”
One other thing Hon. Ladi has done is the fact that he has won over some key figures in other minority parties. Recently, the gubernatorial candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement, (APM) who returned to the APC 3 years ago, Abdulkabir Adekunle Akinlade has now joined Ladi as a running mate. Akinlade is known as Senator Amosun’s loyal protégé. So, Akinlade’s defection with thousands of his followers has been perceived as Amosun’s game plan to dislodge the incumbent governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun.
Akinlade and Adebutu have been working together since 2019. During the election, Adebutu had supported Akinlade, following the adoption of Late Senator Buruji Kashamu as the candidate of the Party in Ogun State.
Ogun East is the base of Prince Dapo Abiodun and Ladi Adebutu. In Iperu, where they both come from, Ladi is reported to have a huge support base than Governor Abiodun. It is a fact that the Adebutu family invested in their hometown.. Adebutu’s house is always open and they feed people every day.
Ogun East consists majorly of the Ijebus and the Remos that occupy 9 local governments: Ijebu East (Ogb¹r¹), Ijebu North (Ijebu Igbo), Ijebu North East (Attan), Ijebu Ode (Ijebu Ode), Ikenne (Ikenne Remo), Odogbolu (Odogbolu), Ogun waterside (Abigi), Remo North (Ilisan Remo) and Sagamu (Sagamu).
Akinlade, it was gathered, had applied for waivers from the National Working Committee, (NWC), to allow him contest the election with Adebutu. Akinlade is expected to lead the troops of Amosun’s supporters in the state to the main opposition party.
Meanwhile, Amosun has said he won’t stop any of the members of his camp from defecting to another party.
Those who are in line to join Akinlade in the PDP include the former member of the House of Representatives in Obafemi/Owode Federal Constituency, Mukaila Kassim; former Chairman of Ado-Odo Ota Local Government, Rotimi Ramoni; and former Deputy Speaker of Ogun State House of Assembly, Tola Banjo.
Also on the list to join Ladi Adebutu is a governorship aspirant on the platform of APC at the just concluded primaries, Biyi Otegbeye.
So the merger of Ladi Adebutu and Akinlade, and by extension, Amosun will likely give Prince Dapo Abiodun a good run for his resources.
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