By: Salako Tijani
Twelve candidates and the sitting Governor of Ogun State making thirteen in total, are vying for the seat of Governoship of Ogun State under manifold of parties.
Dapo Abiodun of the ruling All Progressive Congress is the sitting Governor of Ogun State, who came into power in 2019 when the former governor Senator Abikunle Amosun left office from 2011 till 2019,
Several contenders on different political platforms who are vying for the apex seat of the state are not limited to LadiAdebutu of PDP, Biyi Otegbeye of ADC, Ojeshina Anthony of SDP among many others but the dominant challenger for the sitting Governor is the candidate of People Democratic Party (PDP) Ladi Adebutu.
It is now becoming a royal rumble between the contenders as the wheel of political parties in Nigeria entirely is changing narrowing to Osun governorship election in 2022, it is a scenario that sent a panic message to some APC states.
The state under the leadership of Dapo Abiodun has been challenged by multifarious critic analysts who in so many aspects ask questions about the state development ranging from infrastructure, Education, Economy, Road network among others
Despite the hurdles ahead of him, Governor Abiodun appeared to be the only one in the race to the Oke-Mosan Government House. Many followers of the governor and partisan politicalobservers in the state said he and the APC did not have any challenging opponent in this election
However, the narrative changed on July 8, 2022 when the candidate supported by former Governor Ibikunle Mosun in 2019, Adekunle Akinlade, defected from the APC to the PDP and was given the party’s deputy governorship candidate.
Meanwhile In 2019, Akinlade had earlier dumped APC to run for governorship under the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) after he lost APC party primary to Dapo Abiodun despite the support of the then governor Ibikunle Amosun.
Akinlade’s crosscapeting to PDP to contest as the deputy governorship candidate of the party in March 18, 2023 governorship election tends to have changed the political phase of the state by coming from Ogun West with the current APC deputy Naimot Salako with Akinlade under PDP platform and Adebutu the principal from the same Ogun East with the APC sitting Governor, the contest seems to be more fierce than expected.
The big question is with the allegations laid on the sitting Governor on most of his projects which tend to be one sided of the state and last minute execution project in Ogun West will it make him succeed in the governorship election come March 11.
Standard Times Newspaper opined that with the new electoral law (BVAS) which played a very key role in the Osun poll and the just concluded Presidential election, will the candidates in the political calculations emerge by all odds?
