Ogun Governorship: Amosun Shuns Abiodun, Campaigns For ADC’s Otegbeye

A former Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun, has solicited support for the governorship ambition of the candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Biyi Otegbeye.

Amosun threw his weight behind Otegbeye, despite being a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), whose candidate is the incumbent Governor Dapo Abiodun.

The former governor declared his support for Otegbeye on Wednesday while speaking at the flag-off of the governorship election campaign of the ADC at Ake Palace Ground in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

“As you see me, I am an APC member. For the presidency in Abuja, we will vote for Bola Ahmed Tinubu. In Ogun State here, by God’s grace, it is Biyi Otegbeye,” he said in Yoruba.

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“You would be wondering, ‘Isn’t Amosun in the APC?’ Well, the reason I’m here is two-fold. Ogun Central has produced the governor, Ogun East has produced the governor. Why is it that Ogun West has not produced the governor?

“Some others are saying that Ogun West, Yewa/Awori, don’t have anyone. They say, ‘They are very poor.’ You see, that is mindless talk.”

A Five-Year Feud

In the 2019 election, then Governor Amosun supported the governorship candidate of Allied Peoples Movement (APM) in the state, Adekunle Akinlade, after Abiodun won the APC ticket.

Akinlade, who also contested at the primary, described his rival’s emergence as “the falsification of the people’s will,” and moved to APM.

With Abiodun’s victory at the 2019 poll, Akinlade and the APM approached the Election Petitions Tribunal to contest the outcome.

However, after a protracted battle, the Supreme Court affirmed Abiodun’s election on December 18, 2019, ruling that Akinlade failed to prove his allegation of substantial non-compliance and irregularities in the election.