Ogun State government workers say they will take on the administration of Governor Dapo Abiodun if he spends the state’s funds to compensate losers in the recently conducted primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Governor Abiodun in a statement by Kunle Somorin, his chief press secretary, on Sunday, while marking his 62nd birthday, gave an indication that his administration would compensate aspirants who lost out in the primaries. He was, however, not clear whether the compensation would be monetary.
“I am not an emperor by any chance and this is not my family inheritance. I am holding this position in trust for all the people of this state and I have vowed to be fair, just and equitable. This is the solemn agreement I made between the Almighty God and myself.
“To that extent, I have tried in every way to find a consensus around those to be chosen. I ensured that I consulted the party leadership because this is a democracy. In some instances, the person I actually wanted has not emerged and in some instances, they have, but all of us would not emerge. Regardless of that, I want us to see ourselves as winners and I can assure you that you will be well taken care of”, the governor said in the statement.
BusinessDay gathered that a total of 259 APC aspirants obtained nomination forms in the run-off to the primaries in Ogun. Only 39 of these aspirants scaled through primary hurdles and won various elective posts contested. These include one governorship slot, three senatorial seats, nine House of Representatives seats, and 26 seats in Ogun State House of Assembly.
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The breakdown of the losers shows that five aspirants lost the governorship slot to the incumbent Governor Dapo Abiodun; 10 aspirants lost senatorial seats in the three senatorial districts; 71 aspirants contested and lost in 9 federal constituencies and 154 persons lost state assembly primary election, amounting to a loss of N1.447 billion.
Considering the price tags placed on the nomination forms by the national secretariat of the APC which included governorship – N50 million; Senate – N20 million; the House of Representatives – N10 million and the State Assembly – N2 million, records show that the 240 losers incurred a total of N1.447 billion on the APC nomination forms.
The total amount to be paid if the governor is to compensate the APC losers monetarily as confirmed to BusinessDay by a source within the government on Monday is N1.447 billion. This figure amounts to 25 percent of N6 billion Governor Abiodun admitted during the 2022 May Day celebration to be owing workers in the state.
An executive of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ogun State chapter, who spoke with BusinessDay in Abeokuta on Monday on the condition of anonymity, said that the labour union and the entire civil service were ready for a showdown with the state government over the money being owed them.
“It’s unfortunate that Governor Abiodun has been economical with the truth, the N8.4 billion he claimed to have paid on May Day was not entirely true, lots of money is still hanging and we are still being owed huge check-off dues, loans, shilling deductions and other debts.
“We are having a meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) and we are serving Governor Abiodun and his cabinet a trade dispute notice and it will be a total dispute this time and to add insult to the injury, the governor is planning to use our hard-earned resources to compensate the APC losers, it must be the joke of the century”, the labour leader said.
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