Strong indications have emerged that the Ogun State chapter of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party may team up with the All Progressives Congress in the state to frustrate alleged plans by the National Leader of the ruling party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to impose his anointed candidate as the governor of the state in 2019.
There are speculations that Tinubu has already anointed the Senator currently representing Lagos West in the National Assembly, Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, as his candidate for the 2019 governorship election in Ogun.
Adeola and his supporters in the state have since embarked on subtle and open campaigns for the Ogun governorship seat in the next general elections. The lawmaker is also from Ogun West, a zone the 2019 governorship slot has been conceded.
But Governor Ibikunle Amosun, said to be opposed to Tinubu’s alleged plan to impose the Lagos West senator as his successor as Ogun governor in 2019, has vowed not to hand over the reins of governance in the state to any politician not based in the state.
You cannot ask somebody we don’t know to come and rule us
Amosun had at a meeting with the leaders of Ogun West, Senator Adeola’s homestead, said that no politician from outside the state would succeed him as governor in 2019.
Our correspondent, however, gathered that the PDP in the state had begun moves to work with the Governor Amosun-led APC to ensure that Tinubu’s political tentacles are not spread to Ogun in 2019.
Confirming this development, a former chairman of the PDP in Ogun, Elder Joju Fadairo, told our correspondent that his party was ready to work with the ruling APC in the state to stop Tinubu from imposing his “anointed foreign candidate” as governor on the people of the state in the 2019 polls.
Fadairo argued that it would amount to the enslavement of the people of the state if a politician who had not been practising in the state emerged the governor in 2019.
He said, “It is an aberration for somebody who is not a participant in Ogun State politics to come from abroad or anywhere and say he wants to be our governor. That is unacceptable to me, the governor, and any reasonable person in Ogun State. You cannot ask somebody we don’t know to come and rule us. We are not going to take that. In PDP today, Amosun is our governor, he is not APC governor alone. So, we align with him on that take, that no foreigner will come and rule us again.
“You see, no matter how powerful you are, we will not allow you to bring someone from Lagos to come and be our governor. That cannot work. It cannot work. You didn’t build a house and you say you want to be a landlord, is that possible?”
The former Ogun PDP chairman also alleged that Lagos had had the misfortune of being governed by fraudsters, who had always taken delight in denying the masses the dividends of democracy.
“Lagos State is a bad example to all in Nigeria. People governing them in Lagos State have been fraudulent. You, too, can see that Lagosians are complaining on a daily basis; even the minority we have there, they are being frustrated. There is no way we’ll allow somebody to bring that to Ogun State. We will not allow a foreigner to take away our birth right in Ogun State,” Fadairo said.
