Hundreds of protesters yesterday marched on the business district of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, in a protest against Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s alleged plan to corral traditional rulers into the politics of next year’s general elections.
The protesters comprised of Ogun Progressive Students (OPS), Ogun Youth Assembly (OYAS), Coalition of Ogun Traders (COT) and civil society groups (CSGs), among others.
Amosun was said to have lured the Alake of Egba, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo and the Olu of Ilaro, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle, into following him to Abuja, the nation’s capital, on Sunday, ostensibly to help him prevail on President Muhammadu Buhari not to accept Prince Dapo Abiodun, the state’s All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate for next year’s election.
The protesters marched from OPIC circle in Okelewo through Lalubu and terminated their action at the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
They described as “ridiculous” and “executive recklessness,” the alleged moves by the governor to use paramount monarchs as tools to pursue his political agenda.
On behalf of the protesters, Comrade Adeyemi Azeez, who is the Convener of OPS and OYAS, said posterity would not be fair to them should they fail to speak out against the governor’s alleged attempt to undermine the hard-earned integrity of the state’s traditional institution.
Azeez regretted that Amosun allegedly wanted to heat up the polity in his “desperation to upturn the decision of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC” on Dapo Abiodun and foist his man, Abdulkabir Adekunle Akinlade, as the governorship candidate of the party.
The spokesman hailed APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole and other members of the NWC for remaining loyal to the outcome of the governorship primary conducted by the Muhammad Indabawa-led committee.
He said: “The conscious-minded Ogun State citizens have observed with keen interest the continued insistence of Governor Amosun to indirectly run a third term government by imposing his solely anointed candidate.
“We implore him to accept the democratic decision of the teeming members of APC in Ogun State. They’ve made a legitimate choice of Dapo Abiodun.
“It is as well important to remind Governor Amosun about how he was favoured with the ticket of the party in 2011 against the interest of committed party members who have sacrificed a lot for the sustenance of the party before his arrival.
“As a matter of reference, Governor Amosun clinched the ticket without any primary in 2011. In 2018, it was a keenly contested primary for the party’s governorship ticket conducted by the NWC, and Abiodun was declared winner.
“We equally condemn the ridiculous use of our paramount rulers. They are not tools in the hands of the government. We see this as executive recklessness.”
Also, Abdul Kabiru Ayoola of the Movement for Secured Nigeria and Idris Muhammad, the Secretary of Ogun Arewa Council, addressed the protesters.
They praised them for conducting themselves peacefully, even as they urged the governor to respect the decision of his party on Abiodun’s candidature. (NAN)
