BY DAMOLA EMMANUEL
Are you one of those desperate to know who will be at the helm of affairs in Ogun State when the tenure of Senator Ibikunle Amosun, the incumbent, expires next year?
Well, you may have to ‘cool temper’ as they say in Nigeria.
One, the Governor is not ready to disclose who he wishes to succeed him, unlike many of his colleagues who anoint candidates for offices, notwithstanding if they are the people’s choice or not.
Second, Amosun would want people to wait till next year’s Eid-el-Kabir for the unveiling of the new governor, who would have been sworn on May 29, 2019.
In the Sallah speech he made at the Eid praying ground, Oke Lantoro, Abeokuta, the capital, during the celebration of this year’s Eid-el-Kabir on Tuesday, Amosun said he would celebrate next year’s festival at the same venue with his successor.
But he never gave a clue if the new boy on the bloc would be a Muslim or Christian.
“Next year’s Eid-el-Kabir celebration will be better than this,” the Governor said. “This is the very last one I will attend as the governor of this state. Next year, I will only come with the governor of the state for prayers.”
On whether the new man would be Muslim or Christian, Amosun said: “Here in Ogun State, we are one family, both the Muslims and Christians, even when I was coming here for prayers, some of my Christian brothers followed me down here.”
Then, he counseled: “I want to say we should be submissive to God Almighty and to one another and that is what Sallah is all about. We must submit to the will of God. We must ensure that peace reigns in the state.
“Allah has made a way on which we must all follow, it is a way of peace. It is a principle we must all imbibe.”
At the event, the governor also hinted that his administration has started winding down gradually but will finish all ongoing projects before the hand-over date.
“There is still a lot more to be done,” he declared. “Until the very last moment, we will not stop working. And as you can see we are working round the clock.”
Also at the Sallah celebration were eminent Nigerians like: Captain Rasheed Raji, a former Military Administrator for Bauchi and Sokoto States; Sarafa Tunji-Isola, a former Minister of Steel and Mines; and the state Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu.
