Hottestgistnaija.com
by Moyo Odunlami
In Ogun State today, the Deputy Governor, Chief Segun Adesegun, is a paperweight who cannot make anything happen. Even before his recent public fallout with Governor Ibikunle Amosun, he had been utterly redundant and relegated. But that is not the case with the Commissioner for Education, Segun Odubela and Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s older brother popularly called Alhaji AGBA. These two are, hands down, the most influential persons in and outside the Amosun government.
In and around Ogun State, it is common knowledge that both Odubela and Alhaji Agba corner the juiciest contracts from the Amosun government. Odubela is in charge of education and through this ministry, many billions of Ogun funds are siphoned daily to pursue the personal interests of the Governor. Take for instance, the millennium school projects, which Amosun promised would be ready within a year of his administration but which have dragged to three years with no commissioning date in sight. This project is known to be a perfect conduit for siphoning Ogun State’s money. Interestingly, Odubela also gets N400m to print exam papers for students in the state every term amounting to a staggering N1.2billion per annum.
In the case of Alhaji Agba, he is the Alpha and Omega of how Ogun runs now. Since his brother became Governor however, his life has changed dramatically as he is now a power broker of no mean repute. Alhaji Agba has Amosun’s ears whether diabolically or otherwise. During the last Ramadan, he led 25 Imams imported from different West African countries to Mecca to pray for his brother-Governor.
A visit to his house will shock you as most state contractors, commissioners and party faithful stay glued to his house seeking one favour or the other. To underscore his preeminence, he has about 15 fully armed policemen at his beck and call and fully paid for by the poor and hapless people of the state. No contract, no matter how lowly evaluated, goes out of the state without Alhaji Agba knowing about it.
One particular business that is being talked about is the N1.6b Ogun house numbering project where Ogun citizens were made to pay N1, 200 each for their houses to be numbered, a project which other southwest states did free for their citizens. Alhaji Agba, whose company handled the house numbering scam, ensured that he collected the N1, 200 from everybody with a house in the state. He is now so stupendously rich that his financial chest, it is speculated, is daily being oiled in readiness for the 2015 elections. Before now, Alhaji Agba was a struggling general contractor with barely enough to go round his numerous kids and wives.
At a point, some of his wives abandoned him when he could no longer take care of them. So vast is Alhaji Agba’s wealth now that in the last three years, he has married five new wives and has seven new children.
