By: Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, on Friday said that while he does not know yet who will succeed him come May 29, 2019, he certainly knows those who won’t be governor in the state.

Amosun said there are about seven persons aspiring and working to occupy the number one Office in the Gateway State in 2019, but added that none of them would become governor.

The Governor, who spoke during an expanded meeting of the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress(APC) caucus in Abeokuta, the state capital, said the seven aspirants – whom he did not mention by names, are simply wasting their time and resources.

According to him, there are no qualities of a would – be – governor in any of them.

Amosun, who was reacting to comments written about him on the social media regarding politics of Ogun State in 2019, said he was not bothered by such write – ups, dismissing the authors as “traitors and cowards.”

The Governor’s response came when Senator Lanre Tejuoso drew the attention of Amosun to social media report and wanted to seek clarification from him about it, but the Governor quickly cut-in and urged Tejuoso not to allow himself to be distracted.

Amosun’s reaction in full: “Thank you Senator Tejuoso, my attention has been drawn to it. You should congratulate yourself. For me, we should be happy People are so afraid of whatever we do. They are just running round and it shows clearly that we are on ground and there is no problem.

“They said they have audio and I said they are cowards or even traitors if they are inside the hall. If they have audio, don’t wait for audio, this is me, I will not only give you the audio, do the video, I am here personally and the way we are brought up, whatever we want to say, we will say it openly.

“Those cowards or those traitors if they are trying to record something, I believe those people don’t have anything to do really and truly, you remember when I told you what we use to do truly.

“We have responsibilities to govern, please don’t be distracted by somebody who said this or that but let me say this. For us in Ogun State, I may not be able tell you quickly and say this is who our Governor will be, but we know those who will not be Governor of this state.

“This is Ogun State, this is where I was born, my primary school, secondary school, and tertiary institution took place here. So, if I am speaking, I am speaking from the position of strength.

“And I know with all our elders, even those that are political, I know those who will not be Governor. So, I know that at the appropriate time, we will get our people together and say this is your sons and daughters. We will pick and whoever we pick, is going to be Governor.

“If you want something, there are several ways of getting it. Imagine people said that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will finish him in Lagos and I said, don’t worry, they don’t know what they are saying.

“I am from Ogun State, what will happen in another place I don’t know and I don’t talk about what I do not know. By the way, I say it all the time, that Asiwaju that you see, not money, he didn’t give me any money, no and I said it often “won ki fi oju olore gbole o,” (Don’t be ungrateful to your helper) when I needed him, he stood by me.

” I talk to him, despite all of those things people will want to say. I think they are afraid to write something about what we are doing and what we are not doing.

“So, the ones I feel they are correct is that we are confident. We are more than confident. This Ogun State, whoever is probably backing them, they are just wasting their time. This Ogun State, we are no God, we are human, but who will be Governor, by the time we say this is the person who will be Governor, our people will chose him because we will do our work.

“Let me say it again, the work we have done, will pay significantly to what we are going to do. The other time, I was … second term, this one is doing this and I said don’t worry, calm down, we will not campaign. We just run around to greet our people, do we not win? We won.

” This one, it will be no campaign. Our work, all of our leaders, those outside too, all of them will be there for us and we will win.

“So, whoever that wants to waste money, warn them, they are just wasting their time and money. So,for me, whatever I am going to say, I will say it. Whether is Mr A, B, C, with the way we are brought up, we are not cowards and we are no traitors.

” I will tell you, sir, what you are doing is wrong, this is what you should do. If people should tell me that I listen. He that is not to be counselled, can never be saved.

” For me, I don’t hide under one finger to fight. If there is anything, we will say it the way it is. They called me they want to do any rejoinder, I say what are you writing, I’m here, if they have video and they are not coward let them bring it out.

“In Ondo, we have won, we will continue to win. If they have money, let them keep it. When there is time for us to spend money, we will keep it and we are even maintaining it now, when is time, we will spend very well for our people. We will go round and say this is it and this is what we want to do. We are no cowards, we will spend money, we will not steal money, don’t bother yourself that they are writing this, they are writing that.

“They told me there are three candidates. If they don’t know, I will tell them, people that have told me they want to be Governor are now seven and I know that all of those seven, no Governor there. The ones that can be Governor, when the time comes, we will tell our people.

“I know that they don’t have responsibilities for governance, don’t let them distract us because they mention it and I am here in person that is why I am just saying that so they should be ready. Even all our people, whether state Assembly, whether members of the House of Representatives, Senators, if you want to be something, when the time comes we will know.

“If you want to be something, when the time comes and I am saying it openly and I am in front of the camera, don’t bother yourself because they are just two things. Those that want to be Governor or those that think they want to get Senate or House of Representatives or something. I don’t know, if it is that, just be calm, the way we do our things, we sit with our elders, we say what we do here.

“If consensus fails, everybody should go to the primary, that is the way it is done. Our fathers are here, we know how to do our things in Ogun State. It is not by hiding under something, when the times comes, we will be ready. They have said a lot of things, but for me, we should not be distracted, we should continue with what we are doing.

“Our leaders are here and for me, we should not be talking about politics now. We should begin to talk about how we are going to better the lot of our people so that by the time I think we should talk about politics, we should have spent two years. Maybe the third year, here we are, everybody wants to talk, so, please don’t be distracted.

“Please, tell them all those things they said I said, if they are not cowards, let them release whatever they have and I am saying openly here again and again, if it is about Ogun State, we are confident. We are human, not God, we know those who will not be Governor, we know ourselves, we will tell you, you will not go anywhere because we will go round.”