Society
Details: People Who Have Made Dapo Abiodun Very Unhappy
He has suffered heartaches from people he tried to help
Charles Oyelesi
Dapo Abiodun is making a good job of governing Ogun State – even his political enemies attest to this.
The Governor who is credited with the construction and completion of 220 Kilometres road is not just delivering on promises – but also getting his politics right.
The founding member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State who got elected as the Governor on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on May 29, 2019 has taken the bite off the opposition parties in the state.
He has lured the powerful figures and major stakeholders in the politics of Ogun State such as Genga Daniel (most powerful PDP figure ) to the APC.
But it is not all bliss for the 60year old Governor who is particular about his image and perception about his administration.
He has suffered heartaches from people he tried to help societynow.ng learned.
The information available reveal that three of these heartaches that threatened what Abiodun stood for and made the Governor who was the Board Chairman of the Corporate Affairs Commission and famously known as the founder of the oil company, Heyden Petroleum very unhappy are
Sidi Osho, the nominee for the position of Commissioner for Education by Governor Dapo Abiodun.
The move resulted in a major scandal for Abiodun and his men.
It turned out Osho was reportedly dismissed from government service by the Olabisi Onabanjo University over allegations of gross misconduct.
The issue was used to scandalize her nomination for the post of Commissioner for Education in Ogun State despite holding a higher position in the education sector after she left the Olabisi Onabanjo University.
The rules about such appointments state dismissed officials cannot hold public posts.
Abiodun was greatly vilified for failing to do a proper background check.
The episode left him saddened that a good turn left him with “political eggs” on his face.
Osho was discreetly shooed away and the mess died a natural death.
But that wasn’t the end of the unhappiness of Governor Abiodun over actions he was not directly responsible for.
One of the Governor’s commissioners – sworn in and not doing badly as regards performance – gave his administration untold embarrassment home and abroad.
A 16year old secondary school girl accused Abiodun Abdul- Balogun, the commissioner for Environment of sexual assault.
The accusation became a national embarrassment for the government as Adesola Melojuekun, the father of the victim Barak Mayowa Melojuekun backed his daughter.
The police waded into the case and as prosecution looms, stakeholders adopted a backchannel measure to “resolve the situation”.
The move resulted in “loss” of interest in the case by the victim and her parents (refusal to further press charges) and quiet resignation of the accused from the cabinet of Governor Dapo Abiodun.
The Governor survived this mess and buried it in a wave of performance before another hurricane of unhappiness hit him from a more damaging quarter.
One of his special advisers got arrested abroad for the notorious wire wire scam.
Abidemi Rufa, the Special Adviser to Governor Abiodun was arrested at the JFK Airport, United States of America for $350,000 benefits fraud.
He is facing prosecution for being a part of an international syndicate that schemed benefits meant for the vulnerable in the fight against Covid-19.
It doesn’t help the situation that Rufai was arrested abroad – on his way to Nigeria – and his situation became an international embarrassment not only for the state he serves, but the whole country.
Though Governor Abiodun announced the suspension of the special adviser when news of his arrest broke – in a move that tries to distance his administration from the mess – it was obvious to all that the development has made him extremely unhappy, especially as posers about the quality of background checks for political appointees rage.
And to ccompound the existing situation, speculations -unfounded according to loyalists of the Governor – are rife over the kind of rapport between the Governor and the Special Adviser he suspended over arrest for the notorious Wire scam.
