By Afolabi Orekoya
Director of Media, Ladi Adebutu Campaign Organisation
We have been inundated with calls on the indirect endorsement of Jimi Lawal for Governor Dapo Abiodun by members of Jimi Lawal group, Ola Kukoyi, Fasiu Ajadi and others on Sunday at an event in Ake, Abeokuta.
A question that should be asked is that how many times will these same of people claim defection to APC, they have been known as APC members for over five months, this is not new anymore.
The procured endorsement is coming weeks after Jimi Lawal has lost out in his spoiler game with the plethora of litigations he filed against the Peoples Democratic Party and it’s gubernatorial candidate, Hon Oladipupo Adebutu, and failed woefully from the trial to the Supreme Court.
For avoidance of doubt, Lawal has been a mole sponsored by Dapo Abiodun and his co-travellers to hijack and destabilize the PDP in the state in order to achieve his second term ambition.
Jimi Lawal had joined the party, from the All Progressives Congress, barely three months into the party governorship primaries and was roundly defeated by Hon Oladipupo Adebutu who has worked to restore peace and unity with the party.
After his defeat, Lawal rejected all the peace offerings to join the winning team in order to rescue Ogun State from Dapo you led government which has taken the state backwards in the last four years.
He filed dozens of frivolous applications against the PDP and Hon Adebutu, but to the glory of God, it all ended in futility. Even the court expressed worry over Jimi Lawal’s desperation to keep PDP out of the polls by all means.
Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court, in a judgment in December, 2022, labeled Jimi Lawal as a spoiler.
The court held that Lawal failed to establish with credible evidence his claim that the register/list of voting delegates used during the governorship primary election was marked ‘statutory delegates’ and contained names of political appointees and other persons other than those of the ad-hoc delegates.
The judge held that Lawal, who scored zero votes in the primary election, was only playing the role of a spoiler, having defected from the All Progressives Congress shortly before the primary election.
His return APC has proven us right he was a mole who to destroy PDP ab initio. He has failed, and failed woefully. For us, it’s a good riddance to bad rubber and we are glad that God has exposed one of the enemies of the party.
We remain resolute and determined to send Dapo Abiodun packing in the next Saturday’s election and no amount of procured endorsements would stop Abiodun’s defeat. He has shown lack of capacity to govern a sophisticated state like Ogun and we our can’t entrust their future in his hands for another four years.
With God and the electorate on our side, we shall be victorious and Ogun State shall be great again.
