The Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has lashed out at the immediate past governor of the state, Sen. Ibikunle Amosun, over comment that the incumbent governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, did not win the 2019 governorship election.

Amosun, a Senator representing Ogun Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly, had said Governor Abiodun was rigged into power in 2019.

Amosun, who spoke on Friday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital after receiving an award from the Abeokuta Club to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the association, said the 2019 governorship election in the state was rigged to favour the incumbent governor.

Reacting, the Ogun APC in a statement issued on Saturday by its Publicity Secretary, Tunde Oladunjoye, described the ex-governor’s claim as “an after-lunch belching of a man suffering from political amnesia and loneliness”.

The party further called on the general public to pray for Sen. Amosun, saying the former governor obviously suffers “political amnesia and out-of-office loneliness”.

The statement read: “The attention of our party has been drawn to a statement reportedly credited to the immediate past governor of Ogun State and the Chief Promoter of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), His Excellency, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

“The quoted statement was not only an insult to the psyche of the people of Ogun State but also a sad indication that the former governor is yet to purge himself of extreme arrogance and intolerance that were his trademarks, which earned him suspension from our party, even as a sitting governor.

“The APC, therefore, calls on the general public, and particularly our esteemed members, to pity and pray for the former governor as he obviously suffers from political amnesia, loneliness, and absolute lack of touch with reality.

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“There is absolute no truth in the specious utterance of the former governor who is obviously still sulking from the electoral defeat of his surrogate party in 2019. Our party and candidate not only won fair and square, the victory of Prince Dapo Abiodun was also attested to by his co-contestants, many of whom later joined APC and are still in APC.

“Never in the history of governorship elections in Ogun State have candidates of other parties so instantaneously congratulated and visited the Governor-elect, as it happened in the case of Governor Dapo Abiodun, whose Iperu country home hosted candidates and leaders of other parties, including late Prince Buruji Kashamu, Otunba Rotimi Paseda, Mr. Gboyega Nasiru Isiaka (GNI), and Otunba Gbenga Daniel, among others.

“It is on record that many of the then opposition figures like former Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Alhaja Salmat  Badru, the deputy governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Rueben Abati, GNI, and others served in the Economic Transition Committee chaired by Mr. Tunde Lemo, which was set up by Prince Dapo Abiodun immediately after the elections.”

The APC continued: “Having been witnessing the frustrating exodus of his former political allies who openly said they were tired of endemic lies; and his failure to wrest the party structures from the incumbent governor, the recourse by Senator Amosun to “elated” after-lunch belching is understandable and pitiable.

“Furthermore, Amosun is still pained that despite the violence wrecked on our members, despite unfinished projects whose costs were mostly paid 100 percent upfront, despite the handover without a handover note, despite the wanton destruction of public facilities including pipe-borne water taps in Abeokuta, and notwithstanding the untoward provocations and shenanigans; Governor Abiodun remained focused and determined to leave Ogun State much better than he met it.

“While commending Governor Dapo Abiodun for his giant strides since assumption of office, we urge him to remain focused continuous delivery of the dividends of democracy for which Ogun people elected him; and not to join issues with sore losers,” the party stated.

The Star