By Segun Olatunji
High Chief Kayode Odunaro, Chief of Staff and Media Adviser to the Senator representing Ogun West and governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Ogun State, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly called Yayi, says the mischievous antics of self-declared governorship flagbearer, Mr Abayomi Hunye are aimed at negotiating political appointment for himself in the next dispensation.
Odunaro, who described Hunye as a “serial political negotiator,” said the politician had for long been exhibiting such “spoiler” attitude he had become known for with a view to negotiating political appointments and making pecuniary gains for himself.
Yayi’s media adviser stated this while featuring on Channels Television’s LaunchTime Politics programme on Wednesday in Abuja.
Hunye had at a recent public event in Abeokuta, the state capital, unilaterally declared himself as the governorship candidate and also presented one Chief Abayomi Odunowo as his “running mate” for the APC ticket in Ogun in the 2027 election.
But the ruling party, in separate petitions, on Monday, addressed to the Inspector General of Police and the Director General of the Department of State Services, called on both security agencies to arrest, interrogate and restrain Hunye from further parading himself as its governorship candidate in Ogun to prevent a total breakdown of law and order in the state. Both petitions were signed by the APC Director of Administration, Áyoola Olajolo.
But Odunaro alleged during the Channels Television programme that Hunye was only trying to do what he did with the previous flagbearers of the party, who subsequently got elected as governors, to Yayi, the 2027 APC governorship candidate, to secure a political appointment.
He said, “Maybe you do not really know the character of the person of Abayomi Hunye. This is a serial political negotiator. He did it during the time of Amosun and incumbent Governor Dapo Abiodun and now, he wants to do same thing with Yayi.
“And in all these, all he’s looking for is an appointment. If you don’t know, this is a man who actually went to place an advert seeking audience with the President over this matter. He’s just about to negotiate an appointment for himself.”
Recalling how Senator Adeola emerged as the APC consensus governorship candidate for Ogun State, Odunaro stressed that Hunye scored zero in the primary election that overwhelmingly affirmed the Ogun West Senator’s earlier endorsement by all the past governors of the state, party bigwigs, other aspirants and stakeholders.
Yayi’s spokesman added, “They all agreed to the consensus governorship candidate; out of nowhere, somebody who had been suspended at his ward level, confirmed by the local government and the state and duly, the national body of the party was involved, started parading himself as the candidate and maybe mistakenly somebody sold him the form. A primary was held and he was actually on the ballot but he scored zero!
“He (Hunye) scored zero all over the wards in Ogun State but he’s going about saying he couldn’t have scored zero. I don’t know why you won’t score zero in an election you didn’t participate at the designated venue. You had nobody representing you even in your own ward. Apparently, what he did was to gather some people in his house and pretend to have an election without any INEC or party official.”
Odunaro also expressed confidence that President Bola Tinubu will get the votes of the electorate in Ogun State in the 2027 general elections.
Citing some of the Federal infrastructure projects of the Tinubu administration, he said, “The President will win in Ogun State. Our people are not going to show ingratitude to President Tinubu. They are going to come out en masse to vote for him because he has done so much for them.”
