Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, reflected on the events leading to his rise to power, noting that his predecessor actively opposed his candidacy.
Although he did not mention anyone by name, the governor indicated that the person in office at the time chose to support a candidate from another party.
Reflecting on his five years in office, Abiodun described his administration’s journey as challenging but attributed his success to his faith in God.
The governor shared these thoughts during his 64th birthday celebration and 5th-year thanksgiving service held at the Ogun State Government House Chapel in Oke-Igbein, Abeokuta, on Sunday.
“The process through which I emerged as Governor was a very unusual one; one in which my predecessor who was in the same party with me was fighting me and campaigning for another person in another party, and I will sit down and ask myself, ‘Baba God, this is very unusual, why do I have to go through so much to assume this office?’ And then I will answer myself that it is because God wants to take that glory,” he said.
“The last five years of governance over the state of Ogun for me has been one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. It’s been extremely turbulent, it’s been very challenging, particularly, it has been rancorous. But the most important thing is that in all of this, God has given us victory.”
Gov Abiodun said his government was taking giant steps to reshape the economy of the state and that the steps were yielding results.
One such step, according to him, is the plan to make Ogun an oil-producing State, as the Ministry of Petroleum Resources would soon begin oil exploration in the state.
“Only on Friday, the leadership of the Ministry of Petroleum led by the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources (oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, was here with three others and the chairman of Shell to announce that they would soon begin to drill oil in Ogun State,” he said.
Prince Abiodun also took the opportunity to address comments made by Ladi Adebutu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the last general election, regarding the Sagamu-Iperu road project.
Adebutu had criticized the state government’s 8-kilometer Sagamu-Iperu road project. In response, Governor Abiodun emphasized that his priority is to maintain the positive development trajectory of the Gateway State rather than engage with the criticisms of someone who overlooks the over 600 kilometers of roads constructed across Ogun State by his administration.
Prince Abiodun remarked that he has learned not to respond to individuals who habitually criticize whenever they are no longer in the spotlight.
“I read on one of the papers that someone was saying that he was embarrassed that I was commissioning an 8-kilometre road, and a counterpart of mine was commissioning a 77-kilometre road,” he said, adding that he had learnt not to respond to such ignorant remarks.
He wondered that despite the stupendous wealth of the Adebutu family, the road that runs through their house was in a deplorable state for a long time and the family could not deploy a fraction of their wealth to repair it.
Governor Abiodun promised that his administration would continue to make life comfortable for the people of the state by embarking on the provision of more infrastructure that would, in turn, improve their well-being.