A Reply to the Ijebu Lokan Argument

By Tayo Mabeweje

There is something profoundly troubling about the latest argument being advanced in the name of “equity” for Ogun East.

Otunba (Dr.) Abdulfalil Abayomi Odunowo’s intervention is beautifully written. It speaks passionately about brotherhood, fairness and the need for Ijebu and Remo to share political opportunities.

But beneath the eloquence lies a fundamental contradiction that the people of Ogun State must confront.

Can an argument genuinely claim to be about equity when it conveniently asks Remo to surrender its opportunity, while ignoring the political consequences of denying a sitting governor from Remo the opportunity to seek the Senate after eight years of service to the entire state?

And there is an even bigger question.

If the argument is that Remo has had “enough” because two governors have come from Remo, what exactly is the moral position when the Peoples Democratic Party is simultaneously presenting another Iperu Remo indigene, Oladipupo “Ladi” Adebutu, as a major contender for the Ogun governorship in 2027?

Adebutu has indeed declared his intention to contest the 2027 governorship on the PDP platform. He is from Iperu Remo—the same community from which Governor Dapo Abiodun hails.

So, what exactly is the grievance?

Is Remo being told that it has had too much political opportunity—or is the argument selectively being deployed against Dapo Abiodun’s Senate aspiration?

That is the question.

IF EQUITY IS THE PRINCIPLE, LET IT BE CONSISTENT

Let us be clear.

Ijebu has every right to aspire to the Ogun East Senate.

But aspiration is not entitlement.

The fact that Ijebu has a legitimate political ambition does not automatically make a Remo candidate illegitimate.

And certainly, the fact that Dapo Abiodun is from Remo does not make his eight years as Governor of Ogun State a political crime for which he must now be punished.

This is where the argument about “16 years of governorship” begins to collapse.

Governorship and Senate are two different constitutional offices.

One does not cancel the other.

If Remo produced two governors, it does not follow that every Remo aspirant must subsequently be disqualified from seeking another office.

That would turn democracy into a punishment system.

And if that principle is accepted, where does it stop?

Must Remo surrender the Senate?

Must Remo surrender the House of Representatives?

Must Remo stop contesting the governorship?

Must every Remo son or daughter remain politically disadvantaged because two individuals from the area previously occupied the governorship?

Of course not.

That cannot be equity.

That is collective punishment.

THE ADEBUTU QUESTION CANNOT BE WISHED AWAY

This is where the argument becomes particularly interesting.

Ladi Adebutu is from Iperu Remo.

He contested the Ogun governorship in 2023 and has declared his intention to contest again in 2027 on the PDP platform.

Therefore, while some are telling Ogun East that Remo has enjoyed too much because Governor Dapo Abiodun is from Iperu, another Iperu indigene is seeking to become the next Governor of Ogun State.

So, if Remo is supposedly being asked to “step aside” in the name of equity, step aside for whom?

For Ijebu?

For PDP?

For another political arrangement?

Or only from Dapo Abiodun’s senatorial ambition?

These are legitimate questions.

And they deserve honest answers.

It is even more striking because the APC has already made its own political calculation. Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, has emerged as the party’s governorship candidate for 2027, while APC leaders and stakeholders in Ogun East have endorsed Dapo Abiodun for the Senate.

So the political equation is actually very simple:

Yayi for Governor.
Abiodun for Senate.

One represents Ogun West.

The other represents Ogun East.

That is not domination.

That is balance.

WHERE DOES OGUN WEST FIT INTO THIS EQUITY EQUATION?

This is another question the Ijebu Lokan argument has conspicuously failed to answer.

If Ogun East is debating which brother should occupy its Senate seat, Ogun West has its own legitimate political interest in the 2027 governorship.

And that interest should not be sacrificed on the altar of sectional arithmetic in Ogun East.

Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola is from Ogun West.

He is the APC candidate for governor.

The APC has formally reaffirmed his candidacy.

Yayi’s candidacy therefore represents something larger than one man’s ambition.

It gives Ogun West an opportunity to occupy the governorship while Ogun East retains a highly experienced and nationally connected political figure in the Senate.

That is balance across Ogun State—not domination by one senatorial district.

If the argument is genuinely about equity, then Ogun West must also be part of the conversation.

Equity cannot begin and end at the Ijebu-Remo boundary.

DAPO ABIODUN IS NOT JUST “A REMO MAN”

Perhaps the greatest weakness in the Ijebu Lokan argument is its treatment of Governor Dapo Abiodun essentially as a geographical identity.

He is from Iperu, yes.

But he has governed Ogun State for eight years.

For eight years, the problems of Ijebu were his problems.

The roads of Ogun East were his roads.

The businesses of Ogun East were part of the state’s economic agenda.

The students, farmers, traditional institutions, professionals and communities of Ogun East were all constituents of his administration.

He was not elected Governor of Remo State.

He was elected Governor of Ogun State.

And now he is seeking to take the experience accumulated in that office to the Senate.

That is not a sectional aspiration. It is the logical extension of eight years of executive experience.

There is a profound difference between asking a politician to present his record for scrutiny and asking him to withdraw because of where he comes from.

Let Abiodun be judged by his record.

Let his legislative capacity be examined.

Let his national relationships be examined.

Let his understanding of Ogun East be examined.

Let his performance in office be examined.

But let us not pretend that his place of birth is a disqualification.

AND WHAT OF THE 2017–2018 IJEBU-REMO ARRANGEMENT?

There is another historical omission that deserves correction.

The failure of the Ijebu-Remo political arrangement before the 2019 governorship cannot simply be rewritten as though Remo denied Ijebu the governorship.

The two blocs actually attempted to produce a common candidate.

A number of prominent aspirants participated.

Bimbo Ashiru emerged from the consensus process.

But the arrangement eventually became fractured by disagreements over the process and the route to the party ticket.

That history matters.

Because if the political class within Ogun East could not sustain its own consensus arrangement, it is intellectually dishonest to turn the eventual emergence of Dapo Abiodun into a political debt that Remo must repay eight years later.

Abiodun did not steal the governorship from Ijebu.

He contested for it.

He won the party primary.

He won the election.

He was re-elected.

And he has governed the state for eight years.

That is democratic history—not a political theft.

THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE WE MUST NOT IGNORE

The Senate history of Ogun East does not support the suggestion that Remo has enjoyed some perpetual senatorial advantage.

For decades, the senatorial seat was occupied by politicians from the Ijebu axis.

It was only in 2023 that Gbenga Daniel became the first Remo senator elected to represent Ogun East in this Fourth Republic sequence.

And now, for the first time, a former governor from Remo seeks to represent the district.

Suddenly, this becomes a crisis of “equity.”

Why?

If equity means balancing historical representation, then the emergence of Abiodun should not be treated as an aberration.

Indeed, APC leaders in both Remo and the wider Ogun East political structure have already publicly backed Abiodun’s senatorial aspiration.

That support deserves respect.

THE STRANGE POLITICAL CONTRADICTION

This is perhaps the most difficult question for the proponents of the present agitation.

How does an APC chieftain advance an argument that weakens the senatorial ambition of the APC’s immediate past and incumbent governor, while a PDP candidate from the same Iperu Remo is seeking to challenge the APC for the governorship?

I am not suggesting that every disagreement within APC is automatically anti-party.

Far from it.

Internal debate is healthy.

But political logic matters.

If the APC family is asking Ogun voters to support Yayi for Governor and Dapo Abiodun for Senate, then arguments designed to portray Abiodun’s Remo identity as a reason to deny him the Senate naturally raise questions about the broader political consequences.

And the contradiction becomes even sharper because Abayomi Hunye, who challenged the APC governorship primary, has publicly announced Odunowo as his running mate. Hunye has continued to challenge the APC primary process in court, while the APC has formally rejected his claim to its ticket and reaffirmed Yayi as its authentic candidate.

That creates a rather curious political picture.

One man is challenging the APC’s recognised governorship ticket.

Another is advancing an Ijebu equity argument that directly complicates the political position of the governor who is seeking the Ogun East Senate.

And meanwhile, the PDP has an Iperu Remo son seeking the governorship.

What exactly are Ogun APC members expected to make of this maze?

This is why our people must separate genuine issues of equity from political manoeuvring.

LET SENTIMENT NOT BECOME THE SUBSTITUTE FOR JUDGEMENT

There is nothing wrong with Ijebu Lokan.

There is nothing wrong with Ijebu aspiring.

There is nothing wrong with political negotiation.

There is nothing wrong with seeking greater representation.

But there is everything wrong with presenting sentiment as if it were constitutional entitlement.

There is everything wrong with pretending that the governorship of Ogun State and the Senate seat of Ogun East are compensation instruments in a political accounting ledger.

And there is everything wrong with asking people to reject experience simply because the person carrying that experience comes from a particular community.

Ogun East deserves better.

Ogun State deserves better.

WHY ABIODUN SHOULD BE THE FOCUS

The 2027 Ogun East Senate election should be about what Dapo Abiodun can bring to the Red Chamber.

Eight years as governor.

Deep knowledge of Ogun State.

Understanding of Ogun East.

Executive experience.

National political relationships.

Experience engaging the Federal Government.

Knowledge of infrastructure, investment, education, health, agriculture, industry and security.

These are not sentimental qualifications.

They are practical assets.

The Senate needs people who understand how government works—not merely people who can win an argument about where their ancestors came from.

And that is why the people of Ogun East should look beyond the emotional language of “our turn” and examine the opportunity before them.

Dapo Abiodun is contesting.

He is not asking for a favour.

He is asking the people to judge his experience and capacity.

Let that judgement be made on its merits.

YAYI AND ABIODUN: A BALANCED OGUN AGENDA

There is also a broader strategic opportunity before Ogun State.

With Senator Yayi, an Ogun West son, as the APC’s 2027 governorship candidate, and Governor Dapo Abiodun seeking the Ogun East Senate seat, Ogun can achieve something politically significant.

Ogun West can have the Governor.
Ogun East can have the Senator.
And Ogun Central can remain an indispensable part of the equation.

That is a more meaningful interpretation of equity.

Not one zone defeating another.

Not Ijebu against Remo.

Not Ogun East against Ogun West.

But a political architecture in which experience, competence and geographical balance reinforce one another.

IGNORE THE SENTIMENT. EXAMINE THE RECORD.

Ultimately, the people of Ogun East should not allow themselves to be emotionally conscripted into a political argument simply because it is wrapped in beautiful words such as “equity,” “justice,” “brotherhood” and “fairness.”

Those words are too important to be reduced to political slogans.

Equity must be consistent.

Justice must be blind to political convenience.

Fairness must apply even when the beneficiary is not one’s preferred candidate.

And if those principles are truly being invoked, then Governor Dapo Abiodun deserves to be judged not by the town of his birth but by the weight of the experience he brings to the table.

Let Ijebu pursue its aspirations.

Let every politician pursue legitimate political ambitions.

But let Ogun East not lose sight of the extraordinary opportunity before it.

A former governor is offering eight years of executive experience to the Senate.

That experience should not be rejected because of sentiment.

It should be examined.

It should be valued.

And if it meets the test of capacity, it should be embraced.

The people of Ogun East owe no political debt to anybody.

Neither should they allow anyone to manufacture one on their behalf.

2027 should not be a referendum on which brother has supposedly taken too much.

It should be a referendum on who has the experience, capacity and political weight to represent Ogun East effectively.

On that question, Dapo Abiodun deserves to be heard—and seriously considered.

And across Ogun State, the bigger picture should be clear:

Yayi for Governor.
Abiodun for Senate.
Ogun for progress.

Let history inform our choices.

Let competence guide them.

And let sentiment never become a substitute for justice.

Tayo Mabeweje
Senior Special Assistant on Media to Governor Dapo Abiodun, CON