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As the countdown for the 2015 Election begins,The talk in town is that Dimeji is the only one out of the 11 candidates that can deliver the Okemosan Govt house to PDP Because of the peculiar nature of the race in ogun state,Here are the profile of the other 10 candidates
Alhaji Sarafa Tunji Ishola : He was the Minister of Power and Steel during late President Umar Musa Yar’adua administra¬tion between July 2007 and October, 2008 and former Secretary To Ogun State Government during Otunba Gbenga Daniel”s tenure (2003 and 2007). He is a grassroots politician who started as Chairman of Abeokuta North Local Government Area (1997-1998) and Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Finance (1999-2003). He first expressed his ambition to govern the state in 2009 when he joined the governorship race for the 2011 election but could not secure the party’s ticket because of the zoning to Yewa division of Ogun State by the party. He is in the race again.
Prince Gboyega Nasir Isiaka: This former Managing Director of Gateway Holdings, was the governorship candidate of the PDP in 2011 before court nullified his candidature in favour of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s preferred candidate General Adetunji Olurin (retd). He later became the flag bearer of Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), the party his political godfather, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, hurriedly formed to safe his followers from being victims of political tsunami that was ranging in the state then. He came third in the 2011 governorship election. Now he is in the race again as one of the PDP gubernatorial aspirants for the 2015 election after his politi¬cal merry-go-round from PPN to Labour Party and back to PDP, his initial political home.
The first class chartered accountant from the Obafemi Awolowo University is of the best brains from Yewa division of Ogun State.
Hon Kayode Amusan: A two-term mem¬ber of the House of Representatives between 2003 and 2011 first made known his desire to govern the state towards the end of his tenure as a federal lawmaker in 2010. However went it was glaring to him that PDP has zoned the governorship ticket to Yewa he quickly joined the race for senate which he also lost.W ith his billboards erected across the major towns in Ogun State, each bearing the inscription “Ogun State In My Mind” this Egba born politician is also jostling for the guber ticket of PDP again. Whether he will get the ticket or not, political observers are watching.
Hon Isiaq Akinlade: This is another federal lawmaker in the struggle for governorship ticket of the PDP. He is one of the longest serv¬ing members of the House of Representatives having been representing his people of Egbado South/Ipokia Federal Constituency since 2003 till date. When the clamour for Yewa Lokan (Its Yewa’s turn to produce governor) reached peak and it became clear to him that the PDP would not give him governorship ticket for the 2011 election he defected to the then Action Congress of Nigeria with the hope that if the would zone the ticket to Yewa division as PDP did he would be considered since all others governorship aspirants from Yewa were in the PDP then. When ACN gave the ticket to Amo¬sun he opted for the House of Representatives and won. Realising again that Amosun will want to contest for a second term and crisis was already rocking the party, he returned to the PDP for the purpose of realizing guberna¬torial ambition come 2015.
Dr. Yomi Majekodunmi: A seasoned banker and brilliant administrator, is from the Majekodunmi dynasty of Abeokuta. He is a bosom friend of and former Chief of Staf to Governor Gbenga Daniel, during the latter’s second term in office between 2007 and 2011. This Egba chief is also in the race and hoping to get the PDP ticket to confront the incumbent governor in the 2015 general election.
Engr. Tony Ojesina: This former Com¬missioner for Environment during Daniel’s first term between 2003 and 2007 is also in the race, This Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s kinsman from Owu-Egba is said to be making efforts to get consideration as well. Would he be given the ticket to confront Amosu, his Owu brother? Would other Egba contestants allow another Owu man to be governor after Obasanjo has been President for eight years; and Owu son and daughter were senators be¬tween 2003 and 2011before Amosun became governor again in 2011? These are some of the things political observers are watching out for.
Alhaji Rafiu Ogunleye: This former Dep¬uty Governor during Chief Olusegun Osoba’s first administration between 1992 and 1993 is also in the race. He is an Ijebu man and one o f the aggrieved members of the ACN who left when the internal crisis between Amosun and Osoba’s factions of the party deepened and solution to the crisis could not be found.
But Among the lot Oladimeji Sabur] Bankole who was born 14 November 1969 to Abeokuta chief, Alani Bankole,Dimeji was a businessman before being elected to the House. Elected at the age of 37,Bankole is the youngest Speaker in the history of the House.
A Muslim[4] Egba,[5] Bankole was born in Abeokuta in what is now Ogun State on 14 November 1969. His parents are Alani Bankole, a businessman, former National Vice-Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP)[5] and Seriki Jagunmolu of Egbaland, and his wife, Atinuke Bankole, Ekerin Iyalode of Egbaland.[4]
Newspaper Thisday identifies Bankole’s education as such: Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta starting 1979; Albany College, London, England, starting 1985; University of Reading, Reading, England, starting 1989; University of Oxford’s Officer Training College, Oxford, England, in 1991; and Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, in 2005.[4]
All Africa.com reports that he holds a professional certificate in Public Finance from Harvard University, USA. .[6]
Bankole states he never went to Sandhurst military academy but only took courses for military officers at Oxford University where he was in the Artillery Corps.[7]
Bankole is a polo player, and is a member of the Lagos Polo Club, where his position is defence.[4] He also enjoys football.[8]
During his tenure as Speaker, the House of Representatives ensured the return of about 1 trillion naira unspent funds by Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) as part of the annual budgetary process. Up until then, MDA’s did not return unspent funds. Also, the House of Representatives discovered that about 5 trillion naira generated revenue were never remitted by MDA’s for the past 5 years before investigation. Under Bankole, the House of Representatives accepted 328 motions, approved 282 resolutions and passed 136 bills. These bills include the Freedom of Information(FOI) Act and Fiscal Responsibility Act which ensured that all revenue-generating agencies of government present their budgets for scrutiny every year. The agencies, which include the CBN, NNPC, Customs, etc., spent trillions of naira yearly without appropriation by the National Assembly.
Among the lot, Hon Bankole is the candidate to beat as he has all it takes to send Sen Amosun back home,Dimeji is young,suave and comes from a strong political family whose father Alhaji Alani Bankole has over the years helped many to achieve their political Ambition and so many in Ogun state and beyond owe him political iou which he is ready to use to help his son achieve his Ambition,Also with Dimeji great financial expertise he seems to be the right people to clear the mess created by Sen Amosun who in 3 years has turned Ogun state into one of the most debt ridden states in Nigeria and with his Exposure and Connections he has the confidence of the youths,market woman and Artisans who are craving for him to send Sen Amosun packing.
Additional profiles courtesy Sunnews
