The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Amosun

  • No schemer can turn Buhari against me- Amosun

    Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun on Monday declared schemers working hard to turn President Muhammadu Buhari against him will fail woefully.

    Amosun vaguely identified people he considered as “foreigners” with intent to enslave Ogun people and their votes as likely suspects in the plot to sway the President against him.

    The Governor spoke at Kajola ward in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area in continuation of his campaign for Ogun Central Senatorial seat in the February National Assembly election.

    He urged the people to vote for President Buhari, saying he has added value to the development of the country and the state in particular.

    “All that they are doing is to turn President Buhari against me. Nobody can turn President Buhari against me. It is impossible.

    “It is important we vote for President Buhari because he is adding value to the development of Nigeria and Ogun state too.

    “Look at our railway, airport and power and many others so we should all vote for him.

    “It was now the state is fast developing that some people are now trying to disrupt its peace.

    “Where were they before this time? It is now that the state is fast developing they want to disrupt its peace. Resist them, don’t allow anybody to enslave you with your votes,” Amosun said.

    Read Also: Buhari, IGP meet in Aso Rock

    In Obafe ward, Amosun advised people not to allow any politician collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in the name of given them loans.

    He said: “Don’t allow anybody to collect your PVCs for loan, protect it very well. That is your right. Don’t give anybody your PVCs.”

    Also in Oni Onipako ward, Amosun vowed to fight any politician that wants to disrupt the prevailing peaceful atmosphere in the state.

    He appealed to the people not to engage in violence, urging them to continue to conduct themselves in a peaceful manner.

  • College workers, Ogun labour leaders beg Amosun to pay salary

    Workers of Tai Solarin College of Education (TASCE) at Omu-Ijebu, Ogun State, and labour leaders have sought divine intervention for payment of their salaries.

    They also urged the Ibikunle Amosun administration to forgive them their shortcomings and pay their outstanding salaries.

    The chairman of the Coalition Staff Union of the college, Mr. Daniel Aborisade, stated this at a prayer session and media briefing organised for God’s intervention in the payment of their salary arrears at the college conference hall in Omu-Ijebu.

    Aborisade said the Amosun administration was owing TASCE workers 29 months of unpaid salaries while the Otunba Gbenga Daniel administration owed seven months with 48 salary arrears.

    The union leader regretted that most of his colleagues died in this course of waiting for their salaries and other entitlements from successive administrations in the state.

    He said it was a pity that government did not show any sign of concern about the plight of the workers.

    Abhorisade admonished his colleagues to be forthright and show commitment to the struggle.

    The union leader insisted that the worker would not collect anything less than 100 per cent of their salary arrears.

    He added: “As we are here today for prayers and press conference in our college, we don’t need anything less than 100 per cent of our salary and arrears. I don’t why we would not be paid for two to three years. We are on top of the situation and, God willing, we will have all our salary paid to us.”

    He said Amosun had tactically abandoned TASCE for reasons best known to the governor.

    According to him, the government is also owing the workers several months of unremitted pension and cooperative deductions.

    Read also: Amosun deserves our sympathy Ogun APC

    The union leader said the unpaid salaries caused the death of 47 workers of the college, adding that well-meaning sons and daughters of Ogun State should prevail on Amosun to pay their backlog of salaries.

    Another labour leader Comrade Akeem Ambali said no government could abolish the struggle of unions in any organisation.

    He said: “You see, my dear fellow unionists, labour unionism is under the Exclusive Legislative List. I don’t see any reason why a government would decide to ban or suspend union activities in a well-known college like this. You don’t need to be afraid of intimidation. Go ahead with your struggle to free the college from total neglect. Your decision shall eventually prevail.”

    Ambali noted that the success of the struggle to liberate the college from the government oppression would depending on the readiness, commitment and steadfastness of the college unions.

    The union leader said this is because the government would not be bothered if the demand of the unions was not effectively pressed home.

    He urged union members to continue the struggle till their demand is met.

     

  • Buhari, Amosun, Ogun APM candidate meet in Aso Rock

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday met behind closed-doors with Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun and the state governorship candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Adekunle Akinlade, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

    Before he moved to APM, Akinlade was a governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), but he lost to Dapo Abiodun.

    But the Presidency said last night the President will lead the campaigns of all APC candidates but welcomed endorsement from other parties.

    Before yesterday’s visit, Amosun had, on December 24, led the APM National Chairman, Alhaji Yusuf Dantalle, to the Presidential Villa to submit a letter adopting President Buhari as APM’s presidential candidate.

    Addressing State House correspondents after submitting the letter to the President, Amosun said: “You will recall that just last week, we made public that APM had adopted President Buhari as its presidential candidate.

    “I had promised to bring the letter they gave me to present to him; that is what we came to do today. And you know Mr. President is a very gracious human being. He is a man with a good heart.

    “He said if a party has adopted him, it is only fair he acknowledges the party and the chairman. That is why we are here…”

    “I have said that anybody who is for President Buhari is for me. We will embrace such a party, such persons, such an organisation wholeheartedly. That is what I am doing and that is what we are doing in Ogun State. Clearly, Mr. President will have a massive vote in Ogun State in the coming election.”

    Apparently to counter the APM’s romance with the President, a former governor of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, on December 28, also led the governorship candidate of APC, Dapo Abiodun, to President Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

    After the meeting, pictures of the President lifting the hand of Dapo Abiodun immediately hit the social media.

    Addressing State House correspondents at the end of that meeting, Osoba said: “Secondly, we have come to present our candidate in Ogun State; the candidate of the President; the candidate of APC. The President has raised his hand and told the world that his candidate in Ogun State is Prince Dapo Abiodun; that he has no other candidate. His party in Ogun State is APC. He has no other party in Nigeria other than APC.

    “He has assured us that he will personally come to Ogun State to formally present Prince Abiodun as his candidate. He assured us that this is clearing the air about any ambiguity whatsoever on any name-dropping, blackmail or misinformation that anybody may be peddling. He said all elections throughout Nigeria, not just in Ogun State, people must vote for APC and no other party.”

  • Amosun deserves our sympathy, says Ogun APC

    The Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said Governor Ibikunle Amosun deserves its pity and prayer for his alleged comment against its governorship candidate, Prince Dapo Abiodun.

    The party said this portrayed the governor as someone suffering from exit fear.

    Amosun had reportedly claimed that the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) governorship candidate, Abdulkabir Akinlade, would defeat Dapo Abiodun in the March poll.

    In a statement by the Publicity Secretary to the APC State Executive Caretaker Committee, Tunde Oladunjoye, the party said the governor deserved sympathy and not condemnation.

    It added that he had lost touch with political reality in the Gateway State.

    The statement reads: “But for the fact that the reported outbursts of the governor was reported by a credible online medium, we would not have taken him serious, and for the fact that friends in the media have been asking for response, we would not have reacted.

    “However, rather than exchange words with the governor, we would call on the public to sympathise with him and pray for him, as he is obviously manifesting outgoing syndrome resulting from political amnesia, loss of touch with reality and fear of life after office.

    “For an individual to attempt to play God, and assault the collective intelligence of the well informed people of Ogun State by telling them who the next governor of Ogun State will be, as if he has already written the results, shows that such a person deserves our pity. We don’t need to exchange words with him, but to actually sympathise with him on his present state of paranoia on Prince Dapo Abiodun.

    “The constant, unceasing and monotonous attacks on Dapo Abiodun by the governor and his minions show that our candidate is the leading contestant and his imminent victory is only a matter of weeks.

    “We challenge the governor to publish the recent survey he commissioned and which he read to some leaders in his house last week, wherein it was revealed that his preferred governorship candidate will not only lose the election but also lose in the governor’s hitherto strongholds of Ifo, Ewekoro and Ado-Odo/Ota local government areas.

    “Our party and its candidate will remain focused, maintain decorum and continue to sell our policies and programmes to the good and discerning people of Ogun State, even as we are sure of victory.”

     

  • Amosun signs N400.3b budget into law

    Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun has signed N400.3 billion 2019 Appropriation Bill into law.

    It was earlier passed by the House of Assembly.

    Amosun, who signed bill into law at the conference room of the Governor’s Office in Abeokuta, the state capital, praised Speaker Suraj Adekunbi and other members of the Assembly for passing the bill on time. The governor also hailed the ministries of Budget and Planning and Finance for quality preparation and delivery of the budget.

    He assured the people that the budget would be adequately funded for the betterment of the state.

    Amosun said: “Throughout the eight years of our administration, our budgets have always been presented and considered by the Assembly and signed into law on time. This shows that we have not taken our people for granted.”

    The governor, who reviewed how his administration faired in budget preparation and implementation, expressed optimism that the next administration would improve on it.

    Adekunbi, who presented a clean copy of the budget to the governor in company of other legislators, announced that after taking a critical perusal of the appropriation bill, the Assembly approved N400.3 billion for this year.

    He added that the legislative arm had effectively played its roles in supporting the Amosun administration, thanking his colleagues and other stakeholders for their inputs during deliberations on the budget.

  • COSEG advises Amosun to drop senatorial ticket

    A call has gone to the Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, to desist from the politics he is playing and drop the Senate ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by joining his followers in the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM), describing his contesting on the platform of the APC while sponsoring candidates in the APM as politics of retrogression.

    The COSEG, in a release signed by the Chairman of its Coordinating Council, Comrade Dayo Ogunlana, urged Governor Amosun to behave like a progressive politician, stressing that his support for the opposition candidates of the APM  “is not good enough.”

    The body further said his purported support for President Buhari while working against other APC candidates “is an act of political miscalculation that should not be taken seriously.”

    The COSEG said:” It is not a virtue of a principled person or Omoluabi in Yoruba land for you to stay on the fence in a critical political situation like we have now. Governor Amosun should be man enough to relinquish the APC senatorial ticket and join his followers in the APM. It is not good to hold on to the ticket of a party and at the same time sponsoring opposition candidates against the party.

    “Political office holders should not see themselves as masters of other party members. They should see themselves as servants. Arrogance will not lead to any fruitful end. A man of wisdom and knowledge should always have it in mind that arrogance brings about disgrace.”

  • Amosun should stop droping Buhari’s name’

    The Dapo Abiodun Youth Movement (DAYM) has called on Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun to stop using President Muhammadu Buhari’s name for his selfish motives.

    A statement in Abeokuta yesterday by the movement’s coordinator, Barrister Nuberu, advised Amosun to heed the president’s warning, contained in a statement by his media aide that people should desist from using the President’s name.

    The statement reads: “The adoption of another man’s personality to influence or gain advantages, be it political, financial, social and cultural, is nothing but classical fraudulent practice – corruption.”

    The movement noted that the preponderance of the corrupt practice of dropping Mr. President’s name, especially among the political class, made the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Muhammed Buhari to hint that “suspected self-serving name droppers are embarrassing the President and so issued a warning to political appointees, government officials and party men against influence peddling for pecuniary gains and extortion.”

    Premised on the foregoing, the group said: “We equally lend our voice to condemn the act which trends in the government circle in Ogun State, and call on Governor Ibikunle Amosun to revert to the path of honour in pursuant of his desperate political succession bids by leaving the name and personality of the President out of it.

    “It is on this basis that we appeal to Amosun to stop the reckless dropping of President Muhammad Buhari in his desperate succession bid. The President Muhammad Buhari who believes in party supremacy, workers’ welfare, industrial harmony and fledging democratic institutions has nothing in common with Senator Ibikunle Amosun whose stand and stance are antithetical to the former.”

     

     

     

     

  • No meeting point between Amosun and I on successor, says Obasanjo

    FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo and Governor Ibikunle Amosun are not best of friends on who  becomes the next governor in the Gateway State.

    Chief Obasanjo said his choice and that of the governor did not align on the choice of the next governor as from May 2019, next year.

    The former president and the governor are, however, in agreement that power should shift to Ogun West Senatorial District.

    The zone has not produced a governor since it was created more than 42 years ago.

    Obasanjo is rooting for the governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Prince Gboyega Nasir Isiaka from Imeko. Amosun of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is pushing for House of Representatives member Abdulkabir Adekunle Akinlade of the Allied People’s Movement (APM) from Ipokia.

    Both communities are in the Ogun West district.

    Speaking at this year’s edition of the Ibogun-Olaogun Day in Ibogun, Ifo Local Government Area, where Amosun was also in attendance, Obasanjo said that “regardless of what could be individual’s or collective interest in the 2019 governorship  election in the state, it is the will of God that would count most in the choice of who eventually becomes the governor.”

    He advised the people to support whoever emerges governor at the end of the race even as he cautioned politicians against foisting violence on the state, saying “there is no reason for Ogun not to have a peaceful election.”

    Demanding an embrace and exchange of pleasantries between the ADC and APM candidates in the pubic glare, Obasanjo warned the duo against promoting acts of violence, adding “if they do not stop violence among their supporters, they would have themselves to blame.”

    He described Amosun as his brother who would remain dear to his heart till he dies, but said on the issue of the present political journey in the state, their choices may not and do not align.

    Obasanjo said: “I have made my choice, it may not be in tandem with yours (Amosun). Let my choice be and let yours be and let God decide and whoever gets there let all of us support him.

    “I am particularly happy that the Governor spoke against violence. I want to tell you, if you do not stop violence among your supporters, you will have yourself to blame. There is no earthly reason why we should not have peaceful election in the state,”

    Governor Amosun cautioned politicians against heating up the polity, urging them to conduct themselves responsibly.

    Lauding the former president for consistently identifying with his root, Amosun said it should serve as a lesson for all to, always identify with their roots.

    He pledged to attend the annual Ibogun Day always even after leaving the office.

    The chairmen and governorship candidates of 10 political parties in the state have dissociated themselves from the purported adoption of the APM and its governorship candidate as their consensus party and candidate.

    They dissociated themselves from the adoption by the Arabambi Abayomi-led Executive Committee of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC).

    Addressing reporters in Abeokuta, the state capital, the governorship candidate of Better Nigeria Progressive Party (BNPP), Olusegun Olufemi, dismissed the adoption as “fraudulent, fake and embarrassment to the good people of Ogun State.”

    Olufemi, who for the others, said the purported adoption of APM and its candidate by Arabambi and the IPAC  executive committee members shall not stand because it was done without carrying along other political parties and candidates who are contestants in the forthcoming general elections in the state.

    He added that they have been elected to brief the press on the matter and to debunk the purported adoption, lest the unsuspecting members of the public, particularly the electorate, get ensnared in a web of deceptive and self-serving adoption by Arabambi and co.

    The BNPP candidate said they have written IPAC’s national body, led by Peter Ameh, detailing Arabambi’s alleged infractions of the code of engagement in IPAC  and demanding action should be taken to call him to order.

    He said: “Precisely, the executive of IPAC recently released a press statement that about 60 political parties have chosen a particular candidate as the consensus candidate for 2019 governorship election in Ogun State.

    “We use this opportunity to inform (the people of Ogun state) that we reject in totality the adoption of any governorship candidate. We urge the members of the public to disregard the purported adoption of any political party or candidate.”

    At yesterday’s conference were: Biola Lawal of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP); BNPP governorship candidate Olufemi; governorship candidate of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) Emmanuel Taiwo and legal adviser of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) Kehinde Ogunbiyi, among others.

  • I differ with Amosun on Ogun’s next governor- Obasanjo

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Wednesday said he and Governor Ibikunle Amosun differ regarding who becomes the next governor of Ogun State comes May 2019.

    Although Obasanjo and Amosun are in agreement that power should shift to Ogun West Senatorial district which is yet to produce a governor for the state since its creation over 42 years ago, they are supporting different candidates.

    While the former President is rooting for the governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Prince Gboyega Nasir Isiaka (GNI) from Imeko in Ogun West to emerge the next Governor, Amosun is strenuously pushing for his anointed man, Hon. Abdulkabir Afekunle Akinlade, of the Allied People’s Movement (APM) from Ipokia in same Ogun West to succeed him.

    Speaking at this year edition of Ibogun – Olaogun Day celebration in Ibogun, Ifo Local Government Area of the state, where Amosun was also in attendance, Obasanjo however said regardless of what could be individual’s or collective interest in the 2019 gubernatorial election in the state, it is the will of God that would count most in the choice of who eventually becomes the Governor.

    The elder statesman advised the people to support whoever emerges governor at the end of the race even as he cautioned politicians against foisting violence on the state.

    He said there is no reason for the state not to have a peaceful election.

    The Ebora Owu who demanded an open embrace and exchange of pleasantries between Prince Isiaka and Akinlade, warned  the duo against act of violence, saying if they do not stop violence among their supporters, they would have themselves to blame.

    He described Amosun as his brother who would remain dear to him his heart till he dies, but said on the issue of the present political journey in the state, their choices may not and do not align.

    “I have made my choice; it may not be in tandem with yours (Amosun). Let my choice be and let yours be and let God decide and whoever gets there let all of us support him.

    “I am particularly happy that the Governor spoke against violence. I want to tell you, if you do not stop violence among your supporters, you will have yourself to blame. There is no earthly reason why we should not have peaceful election in the state,” Obasanjo said.

    Speaking earlier, Governor Ibikunle Amosun cautioned politicians against heating  up the polity and  them to conduct themselves responsibly.

    Amosun who lauded Obasanjo for consistently identifying with his root, said it should serve as a lesson for all to always identify with their roots.

  • Amosun, APM chairman present adoption letter to Buhari

    Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun and the National Chairman of Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Alhaji Yusuf Dantalle, yesterday presented a letter of adoption to President Muhammadu Buhari ahead of next year’s presidential election.

    Amosun, who is the senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has been having a running battle with the party’s National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, over his successor in 2019.

    Addressing State House correspondents after a meeting with President Buhari, the governor, who was accompanied by Dantalle, said: “You will recall that just last week we made public that APM had adopted President Buhari as its presidential candidate.

    “I promised to bring the letter they gave me to present to him; that is what we came to do today. And you know Mr. President is a very gracious human being. He is a man with a good heart.

    “He said if a party has adopted him, it is only fair he acknowledges the party and the chairman. That is why we are here.

    “I have said that anybody who is for President Muhammadu Buhari is for me. We will embrace such a party, such persons, such organisation wholeheartedly. That is what I am doing and that is what we are doing in Ogun State. Clearly, Mr. President will have massive votes in Ogun State in the coming election.”

    But Amosun declined to comment on his status in the APC and the threat by the party’s national chairman to expel him for anti-party activity.

    He said: “I don’t want to comment on that. We came for this; let’s restrict ourselves to this. I want my President to win. What else do you want? We must win. That is it.”

    Also, Dantalle said the adoption was just a formal thing.

    He said: “Personally, I believe in him (the President), the reason being that I love my country and I don’t have any other country apart from Nigeria. President Buhari is the only man with the sincerity of intent to take Nigeria to the next level.

    “This is not the Nigeria I was born into. But I see that Nigeria coming back only though President Buhari.”

    On what led to the adoption of President Buhari, the APM National Chairman said the party is a coalition of like-minds and that its National Executive Council (NEC) adopted the President because of his ability and honesty to restore Nigeria’s fading glory.

    “President Buhari is giving us back the Nigeria of our dream,” he added.