Society Gists

Indeed, there is no dignity in the life of a man living on a leash of another man’s cash. He will forever remain a sad excuse for man, a glorified errand boy whose lustre often extinguishes in the glitter of his benefactor’s wealth. Ask Adekunle Akinlade, he knows!

In fact, he is now a pawn in the grand designs of Ladi Adebutu and his cronies to wrestle power from Governor Dapo Abiodun.

Interestingly, transient nature of the interests of politicians remains topmost in the list of reasons they wage war against one another. The saying that ‘no permanent friends or enemies in politics but permanent interests’ appears to have thrown spanner in the wheel of the relationship once shared between Ibikunle Amosun and his political godson and the greatest beneficiary of his wars against the progressives in Ogun State in 2019, Adekunle Akinlade.

Feelers from Amosun camp show that the ego of the two-term former governor of Ogun State, has been badly bruised and is currently seething with anger against Akinlade over his carpet-crossing to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where he has been offered to be deputy to Ladi Adebutu, the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP.

Amosun considers this move as a debilitating betrayal of gross proportion from someone like Akinlade, for whom he invested a huge fortune and destroyed supposedly life-time relationships just to install as his successor, albeit unsuccessfully.

Sources in Amosun camp revealed that Amosun has sworn never to have anything to do with Akinlade forever. “They are now sworn enemies. SIA has allegedly placed a curse on him (Akinlade) and others for betraying him and has vowed never to forgive him.

In fact, Amosun should thank God for not succeeding in installing Akinlade in 2019 because he would have backstabbed him as a governor. And you know the enormous power a sitting governor can wield, especially one that is vindictive,” a source in the Amosun camp said.

Akinlade is said to have decamped after Adebutu dangled a N200million offer and the deputy governor slot before him. He did not even attempt to consult with Amosun before jumping on the offer, which many have adjudged as denigrating. Akinlade found the offer too alluring and tempting to resist, having fallen on bad times since he lost the election and his House of Representatives seat in 2019. Those close to the Ipokia-born politician revealed that he has been struggling to cope with the financial demands of politics in Ogun. He is now serving Ladi Adebutu like a bonded minion working his debt away. He bends to the dictates of Adebutu, reputed for his haughty demeanour.

As you read, Akinlade follows Ladi all about town, like a clueless underling. He carries his bags and runs several errands for him.

Meanwhile, Amosun has reportedly set out to resuscitate what is left of the APM after the departure of Akinlade and many of his other loyalists to the core APC and PDP in Ogun State. Having realised that his influence in the APC has been effectively reduced to nothingness, Amosun is ready to play the spoiler, even more ferociously in 2023.

He has not been able to overcome the 2019 shocker of Dapo Abiodun 2019 victory. He is said to be grooming Biyi Otegbeye to fly the flag of the APM. “Besides being a son of the late Dr. Tunji Otegbeye, Biyi is an unknown quantity in Ogun politics. What is Biyi’s pedigree? Our leader (Amosun) would be making another costly mistake if he fields Biyi. SIA should make extensive consultations before settling for an upstart like Biyi,” a close associate of Amosun opined.

Amosun’s latest move has been causing confusion among his followers, many of whom have been changing parties since 2019. With the 2019 effectively won by the ruling party, they, including Akinlade, moved back to the APC. Reading the body language of their leader that he would not be supporting Governor Abiodun for re-election, most of them followed Akinlade to the PDP. Now that Amosun has decided to re-engineer the APM, they are now confused on the next line of action, though a few of Amosun’s die-hard loyalists are just waiting for instructions from their leader.