For the past few months, almost everything in Ogun State appeared to have been suspended. There seem to be some razor edge unease in the State and the people are still trying to ruminate on how they got to this dangerous but sordid pass; who could they have offended for the gods to have returned Dapo into his self-styled new Government House in Iperu as against the official residence of the Ogun State Governor in Oke Igbein.

The situation in Ogun State can only be described as "Adiye ba le okun, Ara ko ro okun, Ara ko ro Adiye." (The hen that perches on a dangling rope creates unease for both the fowl and the hen). Their Governor has practically relocated to Abuja, forum shopping for support on how to manipulate the judiciary against an impending legal battle, leaving the machinery of State temporarily without directions. To Mr. Abiodun and his supporters, staying in power is more important than the operations and development of Ogun State; it was like his entire life solely depends on being the Governor. And this is quite true.

True to the extent that someone who has contemplated suicides on account of the humongous debts hanging on his neck from various banks and AMCON, now sits on the high table playing host to the same bank executives who had almost liquidated his prized assets, with many of them almost on receivership and auction lists.

Mr. Abiodun has every reason to want to die and hang onto power even if it means by any crooked means; election ballot snatching, disenfranchisement using thugs, threats to the lives of opponents and perceived enemies. No matter what it is going to cost, money or lives, Mr. Abiodun won't just give up without a fight.

Abiodun's 2019 mandate was built on a foundation of lies and deceits, it takes no time for such invested Trusts and relationships to break; it was just a matter of time for the people to find out too quickly that the "iwin" (as in the Golliwogs in Ogboju Ode ninu Igbo Irumole) that they were forced, cajoled and tricked to sign onto will not pick their calls when he gets to power, a man who has no record of philanthropy and only comes around at every election cycle to procure the people's votes. To him, the voters are mere products, simply wares to be purchased.

When the people of Ogun State were therefore confronted with another option to sign a new binding contract in 2023, they had no qualms in endorsing someone else, even if it is Abiodun's kinsman from the same Iperu town. This is what Ogun State voters did on the 18th of March, 2023. As the contract signing was coming to a close, all signatories appended on all sides and by all parties to the matter, ink on stamps and seal endorsement, at about the time the files are just left to be closed and binded, Dapo Abiodun and his Marauding army struck, burst into the Boardroom where the contract has already been sealed, and started tearing the documents. But unfortunately for them, while they were busy tearing, rather than into shreds, he managed to tear into pieces where the other person can still piece together details of the binding document. This is what is being tested before the Law. Whether a fractured pieces of papers still carrying the Stamp and Seal of the contracting parties is still a valid legal documents, especially when both consenting parties (in this case Ladi Adebutu and the people of Ogun State) still concur to their choices.

All camps appear not to know how to approach the impending Court matter.
On the Dapo Abiodun's side, appointment mongers are openly and secretly jostling and struggling to outwit one another, including those who spent election money.

There are two major considerations in buying a house; the House and the locality. You check the house in daytime and the locality to know how secure the environment is. The Electoral House of DA was procured in darkness and his locality are not healthy for the citizens of Ogun State.

It is a house infested with mice and rodents. This is where the workers in Ogun State , especially those in charge of the State finances need to be extra vigilant because Mr. Abiodun has two jobs on his hand at the moment; to recoup what he lost as in payments for political purchases in the twilight of the election and to get enough to prosecute the legal battle; and in the event that he fails, to get sufficient war chest to launch a comeback politically and also fund his alleged profligate lifestyle and guyman shows. Where does this put the Ogun State workers? Much of their entitlements will have to go into funding this profligacy, so those who are in charge of the state Treasury have a lot of jobs to do to police and protect and make sure that state funds do not develop legs.

As the legal battle to reclaim the governorahip mandate enters into its defining moment as the Tribunal starts sitting, Dapo Abiodun will be confronted with the odious tasks to proof his alleged "Identity Theft" in the United States of America where it was proven he also used the name Shawn Michael-Davis in alleged criminal enterprise.

The question of Abiodun's educational qualification has also stuck to the Governor's (albeit temporarily) cloth like tick to dirty laundry. He has always partied this and often denying claims about the academic qualification he willfully filled in on documents that he submitted to INEC. This will come under Public scrutiny before the election tribunal in the weeks ahead. Dapo Abiodun had claimed severally in public and official documents that he studied and graduated from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) but when confronted with this in later years, he has disowned this claims with a bland excuse that the matter is before the Courts. "I never claimed to have graduated from Ife, I said I attended university of Ife" became his famous quotes. And afterwards, the temporary Ogun State Governor had adjusted his claims on subsequent INEC filings, he claimed to have obtained only the Secondary School Leaving Certificate. What a smart but criminal way to perjure. It is like saying I agree to have lied yesterday, but now I have corrected myself. But if you have fraudulently obtained a position with yesterday's lies, or that such lies have conferred an undue electorate advantage on you, then you have criminally defrauded an entire system and must answer to the law of the land.

Modified education qualification or not, Dapo Abiodun is still not so lucky. It is equally sad that the Secondary School Leaving Certificate purportedly issued by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) in 1978 will also be coming under scrutiny before the Tribunal. He will need to prove the existence of the primary and secondary schools he has always claimed in his records before and now. Not so much about mates with whom they attended the schools and proofs of their own result. My personal search reveals some sinister alterations, but I will leave that to the Tribunal to unravel.

Dapo Abiodun's main albatross will also be how to prove that the electoral system was not compromised in his favour with substantial interference in several polling stations. The Tribunal sitting promises to be an epic or the thriller of an interesting movie, we need to sit back and watch.

Gbenga Okusanya
Ijebu East

Wahala

Dapo thinks he can steal Adebutu mandate and get away with it