President Muhammadu Buhari has endorsed the candidacy of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun.
Abiodun, had, in company of former governor of the state, Olusegun Osoba on Friday, visited the Presidential Villa, where Buhari lifted his hand as the APC candidate in Ogun State.
The meeting followed an earlier one by Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, who is believed to be backing a rival party candidate for the Ogun governorship poll despite maintaining his membership of the APC.
Abiodun told State House correspondents after the meeting that the President had cleared the air on who the authentic candidate is in the state.
He also warned that it is illegal for any other party to use the picture of the President to campaign.
Abiodun said: “I want to, first of all, thank Mr President for clearing the air as our leader (Osoba) has said and re-affirming that he is the APC candidate for President and me, Prince Dapo Abiodun; I am the APC gubernatorial candidate and I am his candidate.
“Naturally, APC is his party and there is no any other candidate in Ogun State except me.
“I think that affirmation could not have come at a better time when there is a lot of ambiguity when people have attempted falsehood and other kinds of misinformation.
“So, I am very elated, very reassured that the president has stood by the party and stood by me and I believe that this matter will finally be put to rest and all those that are trying to gain by using the president’s picture on their posters, on their vehicles will finally begin to remove it because it is actually illegal for you to be putting the presidential candidate of another party on the face of the poster of another party.
“It is an attempt to confuse and misinform the public.
“I believe that after today, that will be put to rest and everybody will know that in Ogun State, the only party to vote for is APC from the presidential election, to gubernatorial, to senatorial to House of Reps and the House of Assembly.”
In his remark to journalists earlier, Osoba said he was at the presidential villa to present Abiodun to the president as the APC governorship candidate for Ogun state.
He stated: “We have come to present our candidate in Ogun state; the candidate of the president; the candidate of APC and the president has raised his hand and told the world that his candidate in Ogun State is Prince Dapo Abiodun and that he has no other candidate.
“His party in Ogun State is APC, he has no other party in Nigeria other than APC.
“He has assured us that he will personally come to Ogun State to formally present Prince Dapo Abiodun as his candidate and he assured us that is clearing the air of any ambiguity whatsoever of any name dropping, any blackmail, any misinformation that anybody may be peddling, that all elections throughout Nigeria, not just in Ogun State people must vote for APC and no other party.
“That is the message that the president gave to us this morning.”
Recall that Governor Ibikunle Amosun had openly suggested that he will work against Abiodun’s candidature following the prolong controversies that trailed his announcement as governorship candidate by the APC National Working Committee electoral panel.
The Muhammad Ndabawa-led electoral panel had declared Abiodun winner of the state governorship primaries held in October, a development which did not favour Amosun’s preferred candidate, Hon Adekunle Akinlade.
Akinlade has since defected to the Allied Progressives Movement (APM) following the blessings of Amosun.
