•The Top OGUN Politician Fumes
Otunba
Rotimi Paseda is an angry man right now. He is angry with Ogun Governor, Prince
Dapo Abiodun. And he is not hiding it. When the news broke recently that Paseda
had resigned from Ogun APC, it came as a big surprise. Many couldn’t have
imagined what led this big political player to dump the ruling party. Only
those close to him know that he has been having a running battle with the Ogun
State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, over the way the governor has been running
the affairs of the party in the state.
Why
didn’t Paseda resolve his differences with Abiodun amicably, without having to
leave the party? “We tried our best”, he told City People. “I did that and a
lot of candidates who worked for him also did that, but the Governor has wool
in his ears"
"He
doesn’t listen. He is an accidental Governor. He only became Governor because
there was no alternative. That was all. If I was in the mainstream of things at
that time, we would probably have had a good fight to get the ticket. I wasn’t in the mainstream of
the party, but there were other people like Opa, that would have gotten the
ticket. There was only one female, Modele Sharafa-Yusuf, but I am not sure Ogun
State was ready for a female governor. There was Niyi Otegbeye that also wanted
to vie for that position. There are others who could have done it. So it's just
not me. But the powers that be put themselves together and worked for him and
he won. And so, he became the governor.
"One
of the immediate failings of this guy, who Asiwaju calls Eleyi, is that he
thinks he is somebody. And by my own assessment, as Rotimi Paseda, he is
nobody."
"He
is an accidental Governor and as an accidental governor, if you are not
careful, you will become an accident of the governorship and will not return
and that is what is going to happen to him."
"You
cannot have people work for you and other people who didn’t work for you, that
contributed immensely to your emergence, you now use their credibility, their
goodwill, their name to validate your win. You got the likes of Tunde Lemo,
(former CBN Deputy Governor), GNI, Dr Oredipe (a Consultant to World Bank, who
has worked with 3 to 5 governors and has brought billions to the state), and you got Paseda. You set up a Transition
Committee headed by Tunde Lemo and every other candidate and stakeholders that
are known in Ogun State, you put them in your Transition Committee."
"The
man is smart. And you use that to validate your win, to your own credit. And
once that is done, everyone comes to congratulate you and you now feel, yes,
the whole of Ogun State is now with me. And truth be told, he did have Ogun
State with him, at that particular time."
"Now,
after the Transition, you did not say Thank you to them. They met several
times. You need to go back and check the people that advised him."
"Quote
me, some of those that advised him are actually the ones that will plot his
downfall. They are actually his downfall. If you set up a Transition Committee
and you put 45 high calibres, well-respected, responsible Ogun State indigenes,
in that committee, and you now set up a sub-committee and you allow them to
bring their best into that sub-committee. They said bring 3 people each and
they did. And they came to meetings and there's nothing to support their
meetings. Let's even forget about the top-notch people. You can't give me money
for transport, what do I need that for? But how about the sub-committee members
that you asked us to bring? There was nothing for them. We funded them
ourselves. There was no 'Thank you' statement from him. It comes to nothing. It
was just a bitter exercise. He just used us and dumped everybody. He used us to
validate his win. It is so bad that some of them will call him and he won't
pick up their calls and won't recall their calls.
That is fine."
"I
am talking personally here because I know what I did. I stepped down for him
and I still spent my money. I never took a dime from Dapo Abiodun. Money was
not even in the equation. But, I still mobilised all my Coordinators,
everybody, as if I was running the election and then I stepped down. And I told
them it is not all that you deserve that you ask for. Now, go and work for Dapo
Abiodun. And I stayed in my house and I went out there and I cast my vote for
Dapo Abiodun. It is the worst decision that I have taken. It is the worst
verdict that I have made. It is a vote that is the biggest loss, in terms of people
I have voted for. You people say Amosun is not good, Dapo Abiodun is worse.
100% worse. I have not seen anybody that can be cast in the same vein as Dapo
Abiodun."
"These
are my reasons. I am passing a message to Dapo Abiodun: you don't use people
and dump them. You don't use people of calibre and dump them. You don't. That
is where I am coming from and that is where I am as of today, I don't have any
other reason for resigning from the party except to work against Dapo Abiodun.
And I don't have any reason for doing what I am doing now, supporting another
candidate, than to make sure Dapo must fall. Dapo must not come back for 2nd
term. There is no other agenda. My agenda is singular: Dapo must not return as
Governor.
So,
who is he supporting for Governor?
"I
have an Ijebu candidate. I don't want to mention the name yet. In the last few
weeks, I have been spending my resources for the person, both financial and for everything behind this person. I just want to wait for the campaign to start,
for INEC to release the list, the campaign to kick off, and for all these legal
wranglings to settle down. Once I come out to mention his name, I will stay
with him all through. I will swim or sink with him. Win or lose, it doesn't
matter. We are going to go ahead and do it. So, I have a candidate. He is a
very formidable candidate. He has 90% of the Transition Committee members
behind him. So, Dapo has a lot to worry about. He should now start packing his
bags and put them in his private jet, and get ready to leave for good.”
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