By Abimbola Otitoju
It is unlikely that in his storied and sensational life Senator Ibikunle Amosun has been more harangued as he has in the last one week. Eventually, like all man-made deities, Amosun has stopped resembling a ‘god’ or something like that. He began to lose worth like the last fading smile of a cosmic Cheshire cat.
Indeed, history is replete with lessons of hubris. But not so many read them. Not Senator Ibikunle Amosun, the former governor of Ogun State who, since leaving office in 2019, had continued to indulge in fantasies of omnipotence and invulnerability and imagined himself immune to electoral loss.
Months before the governorship election, Amosun, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, openly canvassed votes for the governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Biyi Otegbeye. He declared that he would work against Governor Dapo Abiodun, saying, “I am not in support of this administration. (Abiodun) must be removed. I don’t hide behind one finger to fight. BiyiOtegbeye is the person I am supporting and ADC is the party. For the presidential poll, I can assure you both right, left, and centre, we are supporting one person (Bola Ahmed Tinubu).”
Prominent politicians reached out to him, but he paid them no heed. It was either his way or the high way, as the cliche goes. Not even the fact that what he was doing was clearly anti-party could deter him. He carried on like he had all the votes of the Ogun people in his pouch. Then, the elections came. Amosun’s candidate came a distant third while the same man (Governor Abiodun) he wanted to oust from office not only won the election, he won convincingly. Since the outcome of the election, Amosun has literally vanished from the surface of the earth. Not a word has been heard from him since then. However, he is not new to such an embarrassing political drubbing.
En route the governorship election of 2019, Amsoun wanted to unilaterally install a successor against his party’s wish. He vowed and did everything within his powers to sabotage his party and then governorship candidate, Abiodun, in favour of his anointed, Adekunle Akinlade.
After being beaten at the APC primary, Akinlade, then a Member of the House of Representatives, alongside other loyalists of Amosun, defected to the All People’s Movement, APM, where he was handed the governorship ticket. Amosun had stated overtly and covertly that it was either Akinlade or nobody for the governorship seat. He publicly declared that he would work for the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari but not for the APC’s Abiodun. Abiodun eventually won. Four years later, the old foe emerged again.
But Governor Abiodun was not perturbed. According to him, “Being a governor is not a family inheritance. I am not a king, I am governor today because of the people’s support, but some people are hell-bent on fighting God. They fought us before the election and even went to court from May to December 2019, but they still failed. The Almighty God who ensured my victory in 2019 is still on the throne.” Governor Abiodun will be sworn in for a second term on May 29, 2023, while Amosun’s reign as a Senator will come to an end.
