Ex-speaker, Dimeji Bankole finally lost out of 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.