Ogun State politics has all the trappings of top contenders dancing naked in the market square; and with the incumbent governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun popularly referred to as SIA by his supporters and the shenanigan which Senator Kashamu Buruji and a section of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which ought to be the most formidable opposition party is up to, the situation is gradually throwing up the youthful candidate of Alliance For Democracy (AD) candidate, Oluwaseyi Gabriel Olufade.
Though, many still believe that the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Dapo Abiodun, who is heavily backed by the trio of party’s national chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and the former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former state governor,Chief Olusegun Osoba,has a brighter chance than all the party’s candidates put together, but the yet to be resolved certificate scandal and the babel of voices it has brought about, is making those chances as gloomy as that of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar that has been dogged by the barefaced lies and corruption allegations against him.
While Amosun, an APC member who is also a senatorial candidate of the party is busy soliciting for votes for Buhari but urging the people of Ogun to go for Abdulkabir Adekunle Akinlade of APM, it is not very clear to the voters who, between Buruji and Oladipupo Adebutu, is the real man for PDP as the camps of both are giving different interpretations to court judgements as to who the cap fits to wear it to the March election just as other party’s candidates are just there to make up the number.
However, such cannot be said of the AD candidate who has been up and about. Who is not tired of consulting and negotiating with stakeholders and citizens of the state and telling them what he will do differently to make life more meaningful for them.
While the young man is not interested in the usual run -off the mill electioneering campaign that entails poster and billboard display, he has chosen the Barack Obama town hall style of meeting the electorate one on one to know where their shoes pain them most. He has carried this style to all the three senatorial districts and most of the 235 wards in the state, and the reception accorded him by the people have been wonderful.
The people, most of whom are clamouring for a breath of fresh air; a clean break from the old order, are listening attentively to him.
While the Amosun backed APM candidate is busy sneaking in, dead in the night, via his proxies to erect banners in strategetic places in Olambe, Adiyan, Akute, the practical candidate of AD has been to the area more than once to interact with residents of the area. To feel their pains and see how successive governments in the state, after incumbent governor Amosun, have neglected the border towns that are capable of laying the golden eggs for the state if well-taken care off.
He has gone there and noticed that the towns boast of no primary health care centre, no public schools – primary or secondary, no good roads. In fact, the towns are too far removed from the often mouthed dividends of democracy almost 20 years after. And in his words and honor, Olufade who said he felt pains and anguish in his heart after his unannounced tours and meetings, has promised to meet the people at the point of their needs. Though, he may be sounding like a broken record because those after him and who are still there, have made such promises in the past including demolition of buildings to make way for 10 or is it six-lane roads and bridges which are still in the pipeline, Olufade, in one of his town hall meetings, had told the people to hold him responsible by voting him out after four years if he fails to deliver on his promises.
But the big, bold question is, is he prepared for the intrigues that accompany election in Nigeria especially in a state where the ruling party at the national level is in control of. That remains for time to tell.
However, except for bandwagon effect, that is if Buhari wins the presidential election, which is the first in Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with the belief by most that it is only when the whole of South West are in one party, APC to be precise, that progressive development can be the lot of the zone the state is not militarised (federal might) as we saw in Osun State especially with the planned Python Dance by the Nigerian Army the AD chap may spring surprise.
