Anyone familiar with Ogun State politics would agree that Senator Ibikunle Amosun used to be a factor, having risen to power and remained in power for more than two decades, with a firm grip on Abeokuta. He was a Lord to consult if any candidate desired victory in his territory.
Amosun first gained political prominence in 2002, when he was elected to the Senate from Ogun Central. His emergence would usher in a new political game in the state for the next two decades.
Amosun’s and other elections in 2003 may be viewed as the origin of money politics, which has infiltrated our political culture to this day. Vote buying, thuggery, and political merchandise were introduced and quickly became ingrained in our system for an extended period of time. Amosun’s term in the Senate was promising and thus served as a platform for him to build his career and run for governor in 2007, but luck was not on his side. He was rigged out by OGD and his cohorts, his closest friend turned foe.
Not quitting, Amosun threw his hat back into the ring in 2011, defeating the political structure of OGD and Baba Obasanjo by a wide margin. He recorded a huge win in Ogun Central, demonstrating his dominance in the region. He later repaid their kindness for him with massive infrastructural projects that will stand the test of time. He is a governor whose achievements could only be wiped out by earthquakes, which, God forbid, we would not experience in Ogun State or Nigeria in general.
The 2019 political scenario did not favour Amosun, as his preferred candidate, Adekunle Akinlade, was swindled out of the APC ticket by the nefarious Oshiomole. Akinlade was later rigged out by VP Osinbajo, who became the election officer in Ogun East in 2019.
Following the death of President Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, Amosun was offered the position, but in his usual miscalculation, he declined the offer, which would have increased his power by putting him closest to the president. He was more focused on the presidential seat itself, a journey he abandoned midway to support Asiwaju Tinubu, another person he had hoped to outdo in 2019.
In the build-up to the 2022 APC primaries, Amosun again miscalculated by choosing to support Biyi Otegbeye rather than his former protege, Hon. Adekunle Akinlade, whom he backed in 2019 from Ogun West.
His choice to support Biyi Otegbeye is one of his many political miscalculations in the last four years. He had campaigned against Shuaib and Yayi and mobilised against them at the poll. Today, those two are Senator elect in Ogun State and undertakers dancing around with his “political coffin” before it is buried!. He conspicuously worked for the re-election of Dapo Abiodun in the state by floating ADC, a party he knew can’t do magic at the poll himself.
Not only did Dapo Abiodun returned as governor, Amosun was humbled in Abeokuta as he couldn’t win a single local government for ADC or assembly candidate. A defeat that has never happened to him in the last twenty years in Ogun Central. In fact, many are of the view that the political gamble sealed the end of the myth around the man who was once adjudged to be great – Amosun in the Ogun political arena.
Worst still, Biyi Otegbeye’s name was conspicuously absent on the INEC list of candidates that contested the March 18th, 2023, gubernatorial elections What this portends is that Amosun blew over N2 billion for nothing, or we could say he acted the script of his sponsors well.
Amosun made himself irrelevant by turning a deaf ear to all call of reason he receives to abort the ADC unpopular journey but like a wounded lion walking among hyenas, he dug his own graves!!!
Written by Lateef Olaogun,
Secretary, Youth Defend Democracy, Ogun State Chapter
