By Mikail Mumuni
Another gubernatorial election circle is coming up in Ogun State in the year 2027.
As was the case during previous ones in the current Fourth Republic, some arguments are being thrown up, mostly bothering on blackmail, asking the Egbas not to contest. “It is the turn of Ogun West,” they echo.
Those pushing that narrative are asking political leaders from Ogun Central to support candidates from Ogun West for the coveted seat of governor, whereas the Yewa have not, since the creation of Ogun State on 3rd of February 1976, (from two Old Provinces (i) Abeokuta Province and (ii) Ijebu Province), conceeded the governorship to Egbas during any election cycle.
The line of reasoning – in favour of Egbas supporting a Yewa candidate to become governor of Ogun State-also ignore the historical fact that the seed of political disunity between what is today known as Ogun Central and Ogun West was sown by some political elites of Yewaland.
Whenever an Egba aspired to become governor of the state, such person had to contend with stiff opposition from Ogun West. Yet Egbas are expected to always be Big brothers, nay cheerleaders, to the chorus of “Yewa Agenda” each time an Ijebu or Remo person was about leaving office as Ogun State Governor.
In the short-lived third Republic, Chief Olusegun Osoba, an Egba man won the governorship ticket of the then Social Democratic Party (SDP) without the support of Yewa political bigwigs in the party.
While those from Ijebu Division conceded the ticket to Abeokuta Division, Osoba had
Alhaji Lateef Ogunsiji from Imeko Afon; Chief Dele Adelakun (Baase Igan-Okoto) from Igan-Okoto, Ayetoro and Chief Afolabi Olabimtan from Ilaro, among his key opponents.
Contrast that with the roles that notable Egbas have been playing in support of Yewa gubernatorial aspirations.
As Nigerian president on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, an Egba man, wanted a Yewa man, Chief
Felix Bajomo, a former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), to be Ogun State governor in
- Bajomo declined, and instead got the ticket of Alliance for Democracy (AD) to contest for the Senate. That ambition did not come to pass. He was defeated by Senator Iyabo Anisulowo of the PDP.
The refusal of Chief Bajomo to accept Obasanjo’s offer turned out in favour of Otunba Gbenga Daniel from Ogun East to emerge the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP and subsequently the governor.
Chief Obasanjo was also the major sponsor of General Tunji Olurin, a Yewa person, in the 2011 Ogun governorship election.
General Olurin, now late, ran on the platform of the PDP. He however failed at the general election because another Yewa man, Gboyega Nasir Isiaka (GNI), contested against him on the platform of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN). The two failed because they split their votes and this has been a recurring decimal in the abortive bids to have an Ogun West person as governor of Ogun State.
The failure of either Olurin or Isiaka to step down for the other paved the way for an Egba man, Senator Ibikunle Amosun to emerge as governor in 2011 on the platform of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
Like Obasanjo, Amosun also supported Adekunle Akinlade from Yewaland and candidate of Allied Peoples Movement (APM)
in the 2019 Ogun governorship election. Again, Isiaka was on the ballot on the platform of African Democratic Congress (ADC). As was the case in 2011, Ogun West again failed to produce the governor. Political wrangling at the home front, as usual, robbed them of the opportunity and a candidate from Ogun East, Prince Dapo Abiodun of the All Progressives Congress (APC), became the governor.
Also in the 2023 election, Senator Amosun equally supported Chief Biyi Otegbeye, a Yewa man. But the incumbent Governor Dapo Abiodun got more votes than Otegbeye across Ogun West. The rejection of Otegbeye by Ogun West voters was so bad that he lost at his ward.
With the above examples, will it be fair to say that Egbas have not been supportive of Ogun West in producing governor of Ogun State? Certainly not!
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If the governorship seat in Ogun had alternated between the Central and the East, it is no fault of the Egbas. It is because Ogun West politicians have refused to UNITE for a common agenda.
When there are multiple candidates across many parties from one zone against a more popular and sole candidate from another zone, which incidentally has a higher voting strength
than yours, the result should be obvious even before the elections. Certainly Ogun Central should also not be blamed when electorates from Ogun West massively vote for candidates from other Senatorial Districts, even when one of their own is on the ballot.
That no Ogun West person has been governor of the state has nothing to do with any gang up by Egbas against Yewa interest. On the contrary, it is the Yewa political leaders that have a history of ganging up against Egba interests.
Blackmailing Egbas will not make a Yewa person Ogun State governor. Discussions, negotiations and building consensus are ingredients of political strategy to attain power and definitely not blackmail.
*Mikail Adegoke Mumuni is a journalist and historian.
