SIR: Whoever tells a lie will have to tell extra 10 lies to sustain the previous lie. This is a proven axiom that has stood the test of time. A lie which an aide to Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun, Opeyemi Soyombo told that shocked the reading public was contained in his response to Sam Omatseye’s column titled “Mighty Men” published in The Nation on Monday, October 29. In the piece, Omatseye narrated how four APC governors had turned themselves to emperors, forgetting they are on tenured seat.
I seek to set the records straight as against the piece of falsehood put together by Soyombo.
The APC governorship primary was initially scheduled for Sunday September 30, two days after the presidential primary was held. But, the gubernatorial primary could not hold as a result of some logistic issues beyond their control. Consequently, on Monday, October 1, the gubernatorial electoral panel set up by the NWC of APC headed by a retired commissioner of police, Muhammed Indabawa, arrived Ogun State and invited all the governorship aspirants to an interactive meeting cum press briefing on the conduct of the governorship primary election.
During the interactive session with gubernatorial aspirants held at MITROS HALL provided courtesy of Amosun, both APC state executive officials, other stakeholders and press were properly briefed by the chairman of the committee with Senator Gbenga Aluko as secretary. They told the state executives about an existing court injunction that barred them from getting involved in the conduct of the election. Yet, no objection was raised by APC state chairman, Chief Derin
In the middle of the meeting, armed thugs loyal to Governor Amosun and led by a serving federal lawmaker invaded the venue with the sole aim of wreaking havoc. As these thugs were shooting sporadically, all they were shouting was where is Dapo? Where is Dapo? This happened in the presence of some journalists. Everyone including members of the electoral panel had to run for their lives. This ugly incident led to the cancellation of the primary election that was slated to hold on October 2. Having informed all interested stakeholders, the primary election was later postponed to October 3.
This decision was to afford the committee to beef up security, having experienced the horrible act of hooliganism sponsored against the process by the government.
However, the postponement did not go down well with the governor and in his wisdom, directed state party executives who had been barred by a court injunction from playing any role during the primary election to go ahead and usurp the responsibility of the NWC empowered electoral committee. Hence, they went ahead to organize their own illegal gubernatorial primary election.
We make bold to say that the governorship primary election was conducted across all the 236 Wards in Ogun State. As the event was ongoing, the faction loyal to Governor Amosun mobilised armed thugs and directed them to invade wards where the elections are being held and disrupt the activity.
At the end of the direct primary, the NWC electoral committee announced and declared Prince Dapo Abiodun as the winner, thus he became the APC governorship candidate in Ogun State, having scored the highest number of votes.
Ever since this declaration, Amosun has been running from pillar to post, making all illegal attempts to upturn a lawful and valid election in order to pave way for the charade he conducted where his protégé was announced as the governorship candidate of the party. Several protests have been sponsored and so many calibres of people taken to plead with the president all to no avail.
It is high time for them to realize that the will of the people can never be upturned by anyone.
As governor and APC leader in the state, we are appealing to Amosun to allow party supremacy, which he enjoyed in 2011 when he was hand-picked ahead of other 10 aspirants to prevail and embrace the candidature of his bosom friend, Prince Dapo Abiodun.
- Olamide Lawal, Dapo Abiodun Campaign Organization.
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