Council Chairmen under the auspices of Association of Local Government Chairmen (ALGON), Ogun East Senatorial District, have cried out to President Muhammadu Buhari, State and National leaders of All Progressives Congress (APC), to save them from the increasing harassment, intimidation and blackmail by the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.
Some of the Council Chairmen who spoke with our reporters in strict confidence, alleged that Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has been tormenting them psychologically since the APC governorship primaries that produced Prince Dapo Abiodun. The latest according to the Chairmen is the desperate bid of the governor to force the Council Chairmen to call a meeting to denounce the APC governorship candidate, Prince Dapo Abiodun.
“The governor, I can confide in you, has mandated us through the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Chief Jide Ojuko, to hold a meeting in Sagamu tomorrow during which we must sign an already prepared communique rejecting the party’s governorship candidate Dr. Dapo Abiodun, and backing the governor’s preferred candidate, Hon. Adekunle Akinlade”, one of the Chairmen said.
According to the visibly agitated Chairman, “attendance at the meeting has been made compulsory, and sanctions await any council chief that fails to attend. The Commissioner told us that His Excellency has said attendance register should be taken at the meeting and sent to him, while the Commissioner for Information will arrange the media to assist in publicizing the already prepared communique”.
Another Chairman said “the governor is just harassing us unnecessarily. We have discussed among ourselves, the issue is clearly beyond our purview. The National Working Committee of our party has ratified the winner, Prince DAPO Abiodun and sent his name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), of what use will our forced communique be?”, he wondered.
Earlier today, the Council Chairmen and few leaders loyal to the governor released a communique purportedly from Ogun West Senatorial District endorsing Hon. Akinlade as the winner of an election he did not participate in: “Ogun West Senatorial District does not recognise any other governorship primaries other than the primaries that produced our son, Hon. Abdulkabir Adekunle Akinlade on 2nd October, 2018. The Stakeholders of the district state unequivocally that the primaries that produced Abdulkabir Adekunle Akinlade was free, fair, credible and was duly supervised by all the accredited agencies such as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the State Security Service (SSS), the Nigeria Police and other security agencies. All members of APC in our senatorial district stand by the mandate freely given to our son in the governorship primaries of 2nd October, 2018”, the “Ogun West Communique” stated.
It would be recalled that Governor Amosun, while addressing party members on October 1, 2018 at Mitros Hall Abeokuta, threatened to stop the salaries of councilors said to be supporting his “opponents” within the party: “we learnt some of our councilors are supporting them, it is because we are still paying their salaries. When we stop their salaries, they will stop supporting them.”
