There is disquiet in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State following Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s hint that he might contest the Central senatorial seat in 2019.
Amosun was said to have dropped the hint at a meeting he held with members of the Ogun State House of Assembly and their National Assembly counterparts at the Governor’s Office in Oke Mosan, Abeokuta.
The governor was also said to have revealed how he and some unnamed APC chieftains bought the votes that earned the party’s candidate, Rotimi Akeredolu, victory in the November 26 governorship election in Ondo State.
A source, who claimed to have an audio recording of the governor’s speech at the forum quoted Amosun as saying that he was under severe pressure to contest the Ogun Central senatorial district seat in 2019.
The seat is occupied by Senator Lanre Tejuoso who, incidentally, was at the meeting and was said to have been visibly shocked by the governor’s speech.
The source quoted the governor as saying: “I am under enormous pressure to contest for the Senate seat of my senatorial district.
“I said to myself, I can’t be anything less than number three when I go back to the Senate.
“I might not contest and I might contest. Even Tejuoso that is seated here might recontest and might not recontest.
“The same goes for Micky (the lawmaker representing Abeokuta North/Obafemi Owode/Odeda Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives) and others here.”
The governor was also said to have bragged about how votes were bought in the Ondo State election, vowing to repeat the feat in Ogun State the 2019.
The governor was quoted as saying: “We were just laughing… Unknown to them, we brought in N1 million per unit.
“I got the money out from Abuja and we will repeat same in Ogun come 2019.
“I am concerned about just seven local governments—the five in Ogun Central, Sagamu and Ado-Odo/Ota.
“I am prepared to spend N1 billion in Sagamu, N1 billion in Ado-Odo/Ota, then N2 billion in Ogun Central”.
The governor was reported to have said in yoruba: “We are aware of the moves by some of you. But if I get to know you have gone public with such moves, you are finished.”
He reportedly hinted on his plans to create crisis for Asiwaju Tinubu in Lagos APC.
He said: “Even Lagos will go out of Asiwaju’s grip. We will bring in few PDP (members) to decamp to APC and cause them problems (laughter). You don’t know anything. You can go ahead and tell them o; I don’t care”.
None of the House of Assembly and National Assembly members spoke at the meeting.
But at a larger meeting of the state’s chapter of the APC larger caucus in Abeokuta yesterday, Amosun reacted to many things he said were written about him in the social media regarding the politics of the state and the 2019 elections, saying he was not bothered by them and describing their authors as “traitors and cowards”.
He said: “They said they have audio and I said they are cowards or even traitors if they are inside the hall, if they have audio, don’t wait for audio, this is me, I will not only give you the audio, do the video, I am here personally and the way we are brought up whatever we want to say, we will say it openly.
“Those cowards or those traitors if they are trying to record something, I believe those people don’t have anything to do really and truly, you remember when I told you what we use to do truly.
“If you want something, there are several ways of getting it.
“Imagine people said that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will finish him in Lagos, and I said don’t worry, they don’t know what they are saying.
“By the way, I say it all the time, that Asiwaju that you see, not money, he didn’t give me any money. No. And I said it often, ‘Won kii fi oju oloore gbole o (you don’t repay good with evil)’.
“When I needed him, he stood by me.
“I talk to him despite all of those things people will want to say.
“I think they are afraid to write something about what we are doing and what we are not doing.
“We have responsibilities to govern. Please don’t be distracted by somebody said this or that.
“But let me say this for us in Ogun State: I may not be able tell you quickly and say this is who our governor will be. But we know those who will not be governors.
“This is Ogun State. This is where I was born. My primary school, secondary school, and tertiary institutions took place here. So, if I am speaking, I am speaking from the position of strength.
“And I know with all our elders, even those that are political, I know those who will not be governors.
“So, I know that at the appropriate time, we will get our people together and say these are your sons and daughters.
“We will pick, and whoever we pick is going to be governor.
