In the race toward the Ogun APC (All Progressives Congress) primaries in 2019, Amosun had pocketed all the 40 elective offices which he announced publicly via “Breaking News” at the presidential lodge in Abeokuta. Initially, Dapo Abiodun was supposed to be given the senatorial ticket of Ogun East under the 40/40 arrangement of Amosun but along the line, things fell apart between the two.
Dapo Abiodun got (Professor Yemi) Osinbajo and Kemi Adeosun involved but they tried endlessly to make peace but an Amosun, to whom power has become absolutely corrupted, decided to drag his old-time friend Dapo Abiodun in the mud. At this point, Dapo Abiodun vowed to go for the number one seat himself to show Amosun that before he ventured into politics, he had already won an election as a senator in 1998 under UNCP. This was what led Dapo Abiodun to Asiwaju Tinubu, Gbajabiamila and Yayi.
For those that don’t know, Dapo Abiodun, in company with Adeeyo in 2015, led Amosun to the palace of Awujale to beg Akinrogun Osoba so that Amosun can have a smooth 2015 election. In the same way, Amosun prostrated at the hilltop home of Obasanjo to beg Baba Adebutu to shut his vault against GNI so he can also have a smooth 2015 election… All these people are still alive!
Dapo Abiodun approached Asiwaju and Gbaja because he was aware that the Yayi structure was a formidable one and he needed that structure to fight Amosun. Dapo Abiodun got Asiwaju to pave the way for him at the national level. Asiwaju was practically moving up and down for Dapo Abiodun to have a successful primary against an Amosun who had a 100 per cent party structure. In all these, the Vice President was not in the picture yet! This was why Amosun kept on ranting and made several newspaper publications accusing Asiwaju and Akinrogun of rigging the primary in favour of Dapo Abiodun.
Now, this is where the story gets interesting…
Amosun being close to Buhari made several frantic visits to the villa to get the President to direct Oshiomhole to overturn the primary that produced Dapo Abiodun but he made a fundamental flaw, Amosun refused to participate in that primary which the party Chairman had pointed out to the President.
Now, the Vice President came into the picture…
Dapo Abiodun was also disturbed and needed backing right inside the presidency. He approached the Vice President who truly tried his best until a point where Buhari was pressing Oshiomhole so hard. At this point, the Vice President does not want to get into the bad books of the President and he approached Oshiomhole. The Vice President suggested that the primary should be conducted again. Words of the Vice President to Oshiomhole got to Asiwaju which of course infuriated Asiwaju. Asiwaju only urged Oshiomhole to stand his ground. It was successful at the end of the day!
Another interesting part was when Dapo Abiodun approached Osinbajo that he would be needing funds for the election and he would be needing the support of the Vice President. This didn’t go down well with the Vice President. The Vice President again and for the last time approached Oshiomhole that if there is any way names could be substituted to give peace and bring Amosun’s candidate who has financial back up on board but the chairman refused vehemently. Words got to Asiwaju and Akinrogun Osoba again who both at different times provided a total financial war chest of over N2bn!!! Yes, you heard me right over TWO BILLION NAIRA!!!
Akinrogun Osoba, through Corporate Sector Support (CSS) also got Dapo Abiodun’s financial support of over N1bn!!! While Asiwaju via Oshiomhole officially released N800m for Dapo Abiodun’s election. The Vice President only actively gave support during the election when every other thing had been sorted out by Asiwaju with Yayi’s providing structure. Osinbajo was only in charge of the security architecture. He actually played that part so well.
So when the Vice President came to meet delegates and party stakeholders in Ogun State in April, Dapo Abiodun, for whatever reason, chose to rewrite history and decided to throw past genuine efforts into the dust bin. He said to the delegates and party stakeholders that the Vice President was the reason why he’s a governor today while denigrating his main benefactor, and he’s saying this because he’s aware that some of the delegates and stakeholders have AMNESIA! (in his words).
For every action, there is always an opposite reaction. Asiwaju needs to set the record straight. He’s human. He feels betrayed. This same steadfastness of Oshiomhole on this Dapo Abiodun’s primary cost him his position. That’s a huge sacrifice for the governor to rubbish. “Eleyi ” is one of the few ways Asiwaju could have used to describe someone that threw sacrifices of so many into the trash can without even blinking!
This is politics! Osinbajo didn’t contribute a dime! The only name Oshiomhole forwarded for a political appointment was thrown into the trash bin by the Governor. That person is a politician from Ogun State too. This was one of the major reasons why Amosun also destroyed Adeosun.
Lastly, before anyone reacts to Tinubu’s statement in Abeokuta, be sure you know the story behind it. The fact!
Yoruba will say “Isoro ni igbesi”.
Akanni Oladimeji Balogun