Emmanuel Addeh
The current lawmaker representing Ogun West Senatorial District, Senator Tolu Odebiyi, yesterday defended ex-Governor Ibikunle Amosun, maintaining that the incumbent Governor, Dapo Abiodun rejected all the peace efforts by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Amosun and Abiodun had been engaging in war of words in the build-up to the 2023 general elections, with the former governor recently alleging that Abiodun did not win the 2019 poll that brought him to power.
In a statement he personally signed titled : “Ogun APC Crisis: Before the Lies Go Viral”, Odebiyi stated no matter the attempt by revisionists to do so, no one can discountenance the role Amosun and his group in what the APC has become today.
Stressing that Amosun is not the devil the “emergency hirelings” are attempting to paint him, Odebiyi noted that Abiodun has done worse things than Amosun was accused of in the run-up to the 2019 election.
According to him, efforts by party leaders to ensure reconciliation of the differences between the two leaders have been rebuffed by the current governor of the state, accusing him of always being in competition with himself and illusory rivals.
“What were those things the fault-finders accused Senator Amosun of, in the lead-up to the 2019 elections, that the incumbent hasn’t done even worse?
“Or shall we ask: what reconciliatory move or effort has the incumbent undertaken since assuming office almost four years ago to improve the lot of the APC in Ogun State? Rather, he’s always in competition with himself and illusory rivals.
“But when things got to a head, the national leadership intervened in Ogun and a few other states, where the internal crises seemed to have peaked with threats of implosion and came up with a sharing formula, just so the contending forces were accommodated for peace sake.
“What did the incumbent do? He declined the recommendations – all of them – and further set the party on fire,” Odebiyi alleged.
He pointed out that it was obvious that the development forced some loyal members out of the party to seek placement in other parties that could accommodate their interests.
Odebiyi added that Amosun should not take the blame for the obvious failure of the incumbent, “compounded by his arrogant and infantile choices, a disposition evident in his underwhelming performance in the state.”
He further stated that Amosun did a lot to stop some of his men from leaving the party, but could not stop them from crying when the incumbent wouldn’t stop flogging them.
He said that even when many core members considered it expedient to leave the party in the face of the unceasing persecution by the incumbent, they still left for a party that would not undermine the politics and aspiration of the party at the national level.
“This is because they had resolved that head or tail, our presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, would be elected Nigeria’s president in 2023 and would work hard enough to see it through. But this resolution cannot be extended to the local politics of Ogun State, which directly affects them, their aspirations and support base.
“For the record, Senator Amosun nurses no more ambition since he yielded his presidential bid to Asiwaju Tinubu. In addition, his decision to leave the senate was personal and he has yet to renege on it. To this end, those concocting lies and imaginary possibilities just so their retainership is secured, can start pondering other avenues to survive.
“Conversely, however, while this is not in any way entertaining any form of distraction or dignifying helplessly inane and feeble minds, with questionable character, occasioned by defective upbringing, Ogun State has never been anyone’s inheritance and no one could lay claims to such, even if under an influence.
“But, indeed, it is our commonwealth – too important and too dear to the people of the state, to be left in the hands of simpletons or plunderers of our common patrimony.
“Let it be known, therefore, and for the record, that the battle to save the state is not personal, but in collective interest and for the good of all,” Odebiyi stressed.
