Hope dims for the people of Ogun West Senatorial zone as their dream of producing the next governor of Ogun State is fast becoming a mirage.
Indication emerged yesterday that as the incumbent governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, who is from the Remo zone might not be favorably disposed to the Yewa agenda owing to fear of losing the state to another political party.
To this end, the race for who succeeds Abiodun has taken interesting turns as candidates of the Egba extraction including former speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole and a the immediate past Nigerian high commissioner to the United Kingdom, Sarafadeen Tunji Ishola joins the contest.
Governor Dapo Abiodun
Although, there hasn’t been an official declaration from the governorship hopefuls, The Verge can authoritatively report that the duo have commenced consultation in earnest across the three senatorial zones in the state.
A source close to the former diplomat who doesn’t want to be mentioned noted that Abiodun has made it clear to his close political associates that he would rather support a candidate from Ogun Central and win the election rather than take the risk of backing a candidate from Ogun West and lose at the polls.”Abiodun has sent signals to his people. The APC governorship ticket is going to the Egba Zone. Yewa cannot win the election for us, we’ll rather return the ticket to Egba than to risk defeat, we all know this, the governor knows it too, he may not say it openly,” the source said.
Adding that, “Politics is a game of calculation, if APC hands down the ticket to Ogun West (Yewa), the PDP will simple pick a candidate from Ogun Central (Egba) and your guess is as good as mine.”
Ishola
The source, however, expressed optimism that his ally, Ishola would emerge as the party’s governorship candidate, noting that his main challenger, Bankole has too many enemies within the APC hierarchy.
“We know who is who within Ogun State APC. No doubt, Dimeji is a formidable force, and we are mindful of is political weight. However, it may be easy for us to outshine his campaign because the APC bigwigs in the state, particularly the Lagos camp doesn’t want him.
Bankole
“This is the reason why he wasn’t considered for a ministerial position, they blocked him. You cannot empower your enemy, they already believe he is the only person who can give Senator Solomon Adeola Yayi a dogfight. Dimeji’s father-in-law, Atiku Bagudu has tried a few ways to get him a plum job is this government, all to no avail, the Lagos camp wants Yayi, therefore they can’t empower Dimeji,” the source added.
Adeola
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation and Senator representing Ogun West, Solomon Adeola, believably the most strategically positioned from the Yewa zone.
Proponents of the Ogun West agenda had argued that the zone should produce the next governor in 2027 to achieve balance and fairness, since the twobother Senatorial zones have produced governors in the past.
The Yewa people of Ogun West has five local governments, including Ado odo Ota (Otta), Imeko Afon (Imeko), Ipokia (Ipokia), Yewa North (Ayetoro) and Yewa South (Ilaro).
