Ogun West renews push for 2027 governorship slot
A group, Ogun West Initiative, on Monday, renewed calls for the Ogun West Senatorial District to produce the next governor of Ogun State by 2027.
The group said that the region’s inability to produce a governor since the state’s creation 49 years ago has hindered its development compared to the Ogun East and Ogun Central senatorial districts.
The convener, Bolaji Adeniji, disclosed this during a briefing in Abeokuta on Monday.
Adeniji stated that the region’s underdevelopment was linked to the fact that those who had governed the state were not from the area and, therefore, had not done much to uplift the senatorial district.
He said “We believe that there is a nexus between power and development. When political power is domiciled within a geographical location, development necessarily gravitates towards that location.
“It is a notorious fact, backed with empirical facts, that one of the reasons why Ogun East and Ogun Central are far more developed than Ogun West is because they have had access to political power.
“This is without prejudice against former chief executives of the state and present governor with regards to the good faith they displayed at ensuring that all parts of the state receive equitable share of resources and attention.”
Adeniji said the purported good faith notwithstanding, evidence on the ground did not support that allusion.
“For example, the Ota-Agbara industrial cluster created in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government decades ago and which was responsible for a substantial part of the state’s IGR, is now becoming a relic, due to bad infrastructure and lack of good faith by the administration.
“Without repudiating the desire of the current administration, for instance, to open up other economic zones around the state, that zone could have sustained its viability and witnessed more clusters if the right attention was paid to it,” he said.
The group said it was persuaded that these inequalities and injustices could only be addressed through political power.
He said for the next electoral cycle in 2027 and after 49 years of the state’s creation, the next governor of the state should come from Ogun West Senatorial District.
Adeniji said, “We are not demanding for power as of right, pity or mere concession as previously done, but there is a new paradigm and intentional shift in the agitation for governorship this time around; bothering on meritocracy and democratic fervour that is oozing from the district and saturating all over the state at the moment.
“Ogun West has come of age and the fault lines that have denied us over the years are now being closed up.
“The zone is putting its house in order, and as of today, there is a convergence and aggregation of opinion, backed by strategic action to ensure unanimity of purpose leading to Ogun West presenting a formidable front for 2027.”
He urged other stakeholders in the state, particularly from Ogun East and Central senatorial districts, to join forces with the people of Ogun West to produce for the very first time the governor of the state in 2027.
