Ogun 2023: Amosun Publicly Declares Against APC Candidate

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Monday, October 10th, 2022

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The immediate past governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun, has publicly thrown his weight behind the candidacy of the governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Ogun State.

Mr Amosun, an APC Senator representing Ogun Central in the National Assembly, spoke during an interview with BBC Yoruba on Monday.

He stated that although he will campaign and vote for the presidential candidate of the ruling party, he will work against the governorship candidate, Governor Dapo Abiodun.

The senator stepped down his presidential ambition for Bola Tinubu during the June 6-8 national convention of the party.

Mr Amosun, who did not give details of the reason for his stance, fell out with the governor in 2019, prior to the APC primaries in the state.

Mr Abiodun became the APC candidate in Ogun through a parallel primary election held in the state.

The faceoff forced Mr Amosun to field his anointed candidate, Adekunle Akinlade, on the platform of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).

Mr Akinlade later defected to the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, where he may be running as the deputy governorship candidate of the party.

Following the defection of Mr Akinlade, Mr Amosun backed an Ogun west senatorial district born, Biyi Otegbeye, under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), for governor.

“If you are talking of the presidential election I will support the presidential candidate of the APC, you all know me, whatever I say is what I always do. But for the governorship race, I and my supporters are not supporting the APC governorship candidate here,” Mr Amosun told BBC Yoruba.

Asked to mention who he will be supporting, he said, “It is Biyi Otegbeye, that is the person I am supporting. Otegbeye of the ADC.”

Mr Otegbeye, a managing director at Regency Alliance Insurance PLC and his Ogun waterside born running mate, Olatunde Awonuga, made the final list of candidates published by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

When asked if the APC is not afraid of the Labour Party’s #Obidatti# movement, Mr Amosun described the party’s movement as a tactic in politics that best suits a new party willing to show strength.

He added that the APC had been around in politics for a while and might necessarily not embark on a procession.

“Even in this Abeokuta now, if I asked those who believe in the candidacy of the APC presidential candidate to come out, everywhere will be filled up, you (interviewer) might not even be able to get here today.”