Ex-speaker, Dimeji Bankole loses out in Ogun guber race

The former speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji
Bankole may have lost out finally in his bid to contest the
February 28 governorship election in Ogun, as the resuscitated
Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the state yesterday publicly
presented incumbent Senator Akin Odunsi as its flag bearer in
the forthcoming polls.
This is coming just as the SDP said it was targeting 500,000
out of the over one million votes of the eligible voters in the
state in the forthcoming governorship election.
Speculations had been rife that Bankole, who along with eight
other aggrieved aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) in the state who had boycotted the December 8
governorship primary election of the PDP, and defected to the
SDP, was being favoured to fly its flag in the forthcoming
governorship polls.
Series of negotiations between the SDP, led by former
governor Olusegun Osoba and Bankole’s group was said to
have recently broken down irretrievably when it dawned on the
former speaker that the party’s leadership was not ready to
concede its governorship ticket to him.
But with the public presentation of Odunsi as the SDP
governorship standard bearer, the hope of the former speaker
of the House of Representatives to contest the governorship
poll in the state may have been dashed.
Presenting the SDP governorship candidate and his running
mate, Prince Segun Adesegun, who is also the current deputy
governor of the state to party supporters at the Ake Palace
Grounds, Ake, Abeokuta, Osoba said Odunsi had met all the
qualities that should be possessed by the next governor of the
state.
Osoba said: “You told me you want a governor who is level-
headed, is that not so? You told me you want a mature
governor, is that not so? You told me you want a governor
who has extensive administrative experience, a governor who
will share the benefits of democracy equally in the entire Ogun
State. You told me you want somebody who will be governor
of Ogun State; not governor for friends and family members.
You told me you want a governor who is deeply religious in
the Islamic way. Is that not so? Have you seen all these
qualities in the person of Senator Kamardeen Akin Odunsi or
not?”
The crowd of party supporters chorused a resounding “yes” to
Osoba’s questions.