47 years after the creation of Ogun State, some indigenes of Ogun West have said they would do everything legal to produce the first governor from the zone in 2023, saying “the time is now.”
Ogun West remains the only senatorial district without a governor since the creation of Ogun State in 1976.
DAILY POST reports that previous steps taken by different indigenes of Ogun West, including Gboyega Isiaka and Adekunle Akinlade did not succeed as they lost to either Ogun Central or Ogun East.
In 2011 and 2015, Gboyega Isiaka lost to former Governor Ibikunle Amosun, despite being backed by the then governor, Gbenga Daniel.
Likewise, Hon. Akinlade lost to the incumbent Governor Dapo Abiodun in 2019, even with the support of Senator Amosun.
At a press conference on Wednesday, the Yewa/Awori indigenes, under the aegis of the Ogun West Grassroots Alliance (OGWA), rejected calls by some individuals asking the zone to jettison the current electoral cycle and wait for four more years before contesting again.
Convener of the group, Bolaji Adeniji, said the group had taken a cursory look at the existential realities within Ogun State and seen that there exists the opportunity for a better deal for the people of Yewa-Awori as a subset.
He stressed that “Without equivocation, Ogun West deserves a better deal than it is getting at this time.”
The OGWA Convener maintained that “the likes of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and Prince Dapo Abiodun would not have been Governors if they did not move against the tide at the times they submitted to context.”
DAILY POST reports that Otegbeye is being backed by former Governor Amosun, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Adeniji called on the Olu Ilaro and Paramount Ruler of Yewaland, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle, the head of Awori monarchs, Oba Adeyemi Obalanlege, Olota of Ota, “to rally their colleagues, chiefs and subjects to support their son BOT; for there is no better time than now when only one Ogun Westerner is on the ballot to be so elected.”
He expressed confidence that Ogun West Obas would not abandon their own for another candidate.
Recall that the monarchs recently endorsed the second term bid of Gov Abiodun.
“We likewise call on the Ogun West political class and the electorate in their diversities to reconsider extant loyalties and situations in different political parties and convey global support across all divides towards the realization of our forlorn aspiration in 2023. There is no better time than now and we do not have to defer till many years’ time (with no guarantees), what we can strive to achieve today,” it was said.
