Ibikunle Amosun, the immediate past governor of Ogun State and lawmaker representing Ogun State Central Senatorial District on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, and his successor, Dapo Abiodun, appear to be headed on a collision course once again. Until they met recently during the coronation of the traditional ruler of Owu in Ogun State, Oba Saka Matemilola, both politicians were not on speaking terms for five years. The event, which took place sometime in October 2022, unexpectedly provided them an opportunity to put aside their differences. The two exchanged pleasantries and even shared a warm hug.
Then just when indigenes of Ogun State thought that both men had finally buried the hatchet, they resumed their animosity towards one another. Apparently Amosun, who had previously boasted that he would work against the second term bid of Abidoun, fired the first salvo by pointedly shunning the latter’s APC governorship campaign train and openly supporting Barrister Biyi Otegbeye, the governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, to spite Abidoun who he had accused of betrayal in 2019.
Amosun was seen addressing a crowd comprising ADC faithful at the flag-off of Otegbeye’s campaign in Abeokuta last week. He did not only revisit his quarrel with Abiodun but also accused him of destroying the legacies that he left behind in Ogun.
The former governor claimed that he improved Ogun’s ranking on the list of most developed states in the federation from the 35th position to the 3rd and 4th positions consecutively. He pointed at the education and health sectors of the state, as well as the employment rate and complained that those areas had been on a steady decline since Abiola took over him as governor of the state.
Amosun also faulted the Dapo Abiodun Administration in the state on its ‘reckless’ spending on schools renovation. He argued that while his government had expended the total sum of N6.9bn on the construction of 15 model schools in the state, the present administration renovated a single school at the cost of N3bn.
Reacting, Abidoun denied the allegation and made it known that the model school was built with N830m as against N6.9bn mentioned by Amosun. He labeled the former governor a liar and revealed that he only converted Amosun’s moribund model school to a functional technology hub within three weeks of assuming office. He in turn accused the former governor of not living up to his words when he was at the helm of the state. Acording to him, Amosun always claimed to have paid for his projects, whereas, in actual fact, he abandoned them.
