- Ijebu/Remo challenge Gov for APC ticket
The battle for the soul of Ogun in the 2019 governorship election has continued to throw up its intrigues among political leaders in the state. The major contentious issue is the negotiation for the zoning of the governorship ticket to Yewa, Ogun West, which is widely believed to be left behind in access to the Governor’s Office.
Within the Yewa micro nation in the state, there has been protest over the incursion of Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, (a.k.a. YAYI) from Lagos State into Ogun politics and the race for the successor of Governor Ibikunle Amosun. This generated controversy of home-based and foreigners’ dichotomy, leading to protests that a representative of Lagos State in the National Assembly cannot be made governor of Ogun State.
Senator Adeola represents Lagos West in the National Assembly, having been elevated from being a member of the House of Representatives to the Senate as an indigene of Lagos State.
In an interaction with Elders council from Yewa, Ogun West, Governor Amosun had declared that he would not hand over to a non-indigene pretending to “be a son of the soil”. He had declared his resolve to support a candidate from the Yewa clime.
Senator Adeola, however, called the governor bluff with a vaunt that with or without Governor Amosun, he will contest the Ogun State governorship election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Meanwhile, Governor Amosun is the leader of the APC in Ogun State.
Adeola had stated that he was aware that Governor Amosun was opposed to his governorship ambition but that would not deter him, adding that opposition from the governor would make him more popular.
“It is my strong conviction that God and the good people of the state would crown me a governor and not a single individual,” he had said.
The senator also vowed to take his campaign to Amosun’s office to seek his support.
Meanwhile, APC stakeholders from Ijebu and Remo, Ogun East, have expressed disagreement with Amosu’s zoning of the governorship ticket to Yewa, Ogun West.
The Ijebu-Remo Governorship Agenda Elders Forum, thereafter, nominated Ogun State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru, as consensus candidate for the zone to contest the PAC ticket later in the year.