To discerning followers of political events in Ogun state in the last 10 years, you will agree with me that the battle for the number one seat in our state has never been for the soft, lily-livered but the swifts, smarts and the corny. Maybe sometimes to the highest bidder!
As the shopping for the next landlord of the Isale Igbeyin government house from 2019 is about to begin, don't be too quick to pitch your tent cuz so far, the market is still very early and the traders are just arriving - the best may still be in the cooler.
Before the fullness of time to choose, let me bring to your attention the personalities that are going to shake the state to its very foundation as we travel the road to 2019 in Ogun
Yewa/Awori, the Ogun west district of the state has never produced a state governor in our 40 years history and they have re-oiled their agitation machines for the number one seat in the state come 2019. They don't seem to be kidding this time and I beg your indulgence not to think they are.
These are the likely juggernauts that are like to slug it out with the remaining 2 districts in the state in 2019:
• Senator Solomon Adeola Yayi: a Lagos based popular politician of Yewa descent and the current senator representing Lagos West in the Senate. He belongs to the APC fold and a serious challenger not to be ignored. Yayi is rich, has contact and the political muscle to challenge anyone for the seat of Governor of Ogun state, never doubt that. He is very appealing to all that hears his message. The Yewans are already playing the card of "No imported politician" for them in 2019; but his support base is growing, threatening and intimidating to the power brokers in the state who sees his aspiration as an assault on them and to the status quo. Obasanjo has aired his disagreement to his aspiration. Yayi's popularity is louder in Yewa/Awori, part of the Central (Egba) and currently moving at a high speed to the East. Although 2019 is a bit still far away, the loudness of "Yayi nbo " or "Yayi ti de" won't be farfetched to all when that year if our lord finally arrives. Just brace up folks.
• Gboyega Nasir Isiaka: the two-time governorship candidate from Yewa who still controls enormous influence among the youth in the area. Yewa politics is diverse and contradictory; after rejecting Isiaka twice by denying him block votes to press home their seriousness on taking over the control of Okemosan, third shot at it may be in the offing for the trained business administrator. He is even more accepted among the other two districts as a recurrent decimal in this race; Ogun East in particular where he scored the most votes in the last election. His message has always been: #Believe. If you believe!
• Hon. Akinlade Abiodun: if public records of public officials are anything t be taken serious all the time, Akinlade will have no problem representing Yewa on the ballot in 2019. On record, Akinlade still holds the card as the only lawmaker from Yewa since the advent of this democracy who has spent more on human, capital development and training in Yewaland. He is a darling of the religious community and the old people in the area who have come to accept him as their son; politics aside, his skill acquisition centers across his federal constituency that has trained tens of thousands of Yewans in the years past is enough to boost his CV in seeking the office of the governor in 2019. Akinlade is also a bridge builder who can bring East, West and central to the table for the good of the state. He is popularly referred to as: #OmoAkin
Egba's intrusion into the game
There is this popular but unfortunate political statement of the old that: "Yewa lo kan, Egba re ma se (it is Yewa's turn but Egba will take it)". Egba will be in the ring with Yewa/Awori and Ijebu/Remo for the keys to Oke Igbeyin government house in 2019. I have picked just 2 likely combatants from that axis; the number may grow before 2019, which is more than likely, but let's look at these two for now.
• Rt Hon. Dimeji Sabur Bankole: the former Speaker of the House of Representatives is not a stranger to any political follower from Ogun. It was his governorship ambition, while he was the Speaker, that led to his face off and power tussle engagement with the former governor, Gbenga Daniel; which also led to the collapse of PDP and the birth of now defunct PPN In 2011. Bankole is not a push over and his outreach is second to none in Ogun state. Many of you may not know this, but Dimeji Bankole group is virtually in all the 20 LGs in Ogun state and they meet regularly for briefing from the young erudite Bankole. Bankole mingles with virtually all the important power brokers within and outside the state, across party lines, without making noise of it. He can pull strings that only few can when it comes to political scheming and he's smart enough to know when to push and when to pull back. If Bankole shows interest in 2019, depending on whose side he pitched his tent, Egba will go with him. He is going to be their gamble game. But the unwritten rotation formula in the state will be a big hurdle to cross, if not impossible. This places Bankole in a vantage position of a Godfather in the 2019 race. He is going to be in a position to swing the election either way, for any party, if he keeps his grassroots machinery more active towards the election year. I'll be damned if you can't see that already.
...to be continued!
I will complete the series with the second likely aspirant of Egba extraction and the Ogun East Tsunami Team lucking around the corner to grab the cake in 2019.
Watch this space
Maiyegun General
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