Prior to the March 18, 2023 Governorship and House of Assembly Elections in Ogun State, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and some political gladiators thought the poll would be a mere walkover. But Governor Dapo Abiodun didn’t think so. If he did, then he saw something on time and began a last minute fire brigade and bridge-building efforts across the state to avert a looming danger. At last, he escaped narrowly.
However, the reality across the state till the eve of the poll showed that it was going to be a three-horse contest between the APC; former Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s sponsored – African Democratic Congress (ADC); and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). And true to the permutations, the APC had to sweat it out to retain the state.
Unlike in the presidential elections, which were generally adjudged peaceful, the Governorship and House of Assembly elections, were characterised by ballot box snatching, vote-buying, sporadic shootings and what could be described as low turnout of voters, among other hitches.
The Guardian learnt that despite hyped endorsements by weak opposition parties, movements and other groups, only a small fraction in the state supported the governor’s re-election bid. Others, based on what they termed underdevelopment of the state, marginalisation and abandonment of his predecessor’s projects, among other grievances decided to end governor Abiodun’s tenure this year.
Even the civil servants that spoke with The Guardian during the election were praying against his re-election, considering the backlog of unpaid deductions, marginalisation of promotion beneficiaries and other allegations bordering on anti-workers’ policies.
Despite his last minutes empowerment programmes and fence mending, the determination of the electorate to vote him out actually showed in the slim margin with which he defeated the PDP governorship candidate, Ladi Adebutu.
Despite winning 12 Local Councils – Odeda, Yewa North, Yewa South, Ewekoro, Ijebu North, Ijebu Ode, Abeokuta North, Ipokia, Imeko Afon, Ado-Odo/Ota, Obafemi Owode and Ifo, Abiodun only managed to poll 276,298 votes. Adebutu polled 262,383 votes from eight councils, while the ADC came third with 94,754 votes.
For the House of Assembly election, APC won 16 seats, PDP won nine out of 26, while the remaining seat – Ifo 1, where the Speaker, Taiwo Oluomo comes from was declared inconclusive, with a rerun planned for a latter date.
