Ogun: Prince Dapo Abiodun’s Administration Falls Apart

All seems not to be going well in the politics and government of Mr. Dapo Abiodun in Ogun State as many political aides and appointees of the Ogun State Governor appears to be looking for a quiet exit and started dumping him out of fear that he might lose at the election tribunal and subsequent appeals.

On Thursday, President Mohammadu Buhari announced the appointment of Mr. James Gbenga Akintola as the Chairman of the Board of Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), that is one spanner lost and a big blow to Dapo Abiodun because Akintola was the Special Adviser on Infrastructure to the Governor and the figure head in charge of the Ogun State Public Works Agency (OGPWA). Mr. Abiodun had deliberately refused to name him the General Manager of the Agency to strip him of any executive oversight that will put him in charge of the substance running of the agency and thereby controlling the funds.

Just like the local government council chairmen, most people who have worked with Mr. Abiodun have had their own tales of woes, and they have not been happy working with him all the while. This, it was suggested, was the reason why they intensified the lobby for appointments at the federal level before the roof of the stolen mandate caved in on the governor.

For instance, one of the people believed to be very influential in the Abiodun administration and a Senior Special Adviser on Politics, Mr. Tunji Egbetokun was said to have been sitting on the neck of the Senator Elect for Ogun West, Olamilekan Solomon, Yayi to help him secure a Federal appointment so he can dispense with Dapo Abiodun’s high handedness and alleged corruption.

According to a source close to the governor’s office, “Egbetokun understands what he is doing. Don’t forget he is one of the strongest political ally of the governor and he knows what they did to rig the election and he also know that these daylight robbery cannot fly in the face of the petition before the Tribunal. So, the best option for him is to look for a quiet exit so that when Dapo Abiodun fails at the Tribunal, they will not sink together. “

The case of Gbenga Akintola, in fact, is very peculiar. His lobby with the Minister for Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, paid off with the FERMA appointment. The source confirmed that “The OGPWA which he headed in Ogun State was used as the greatest conduit pipe for siphoning Ogun State money by the DA administration. As the OGPWA boss, he had complained bitterly about the level of corruption going on there.

“Roads are awarded to contractors at killer costs, and that was the reason that the government has never disclosed the true cost of awarding contracts.

“Most of the road contracts are mere smokes screens of unimaginable corruption. In the records, vouchers and payments are raised in the name of OGPWA as if the constructions were via Direct Labour. Stickers of OGPWA are posted on the equipment of the contractors to deceive unsuspecting Ogun State citizens. So, all the staff of the agency are quite unhappy because they are just being used as conduits to siphon the commonwealth of Ogun State.”

It was also gathered that those who could not get an alternate godfather like Akintola and Egbetokun have relocated their families abroad while some are just on standby to join their family once their fears are confirmed.

The panic situation, sources revealed, is affecting the day to day operations of the government, while some of the appointees are already sending overtures to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu’s camp and pledged their loyalty.

The recent exposure of the fraudulent way and manner Local Government funds were stolen with particular mention of Paris club refund and the Federal Government bail-outs to the local government chairmen and possible threats that the EFCC might move in is also giving many of these appointees reasons to worry, hence their decisions to quit the government before the bubble bursts.