We need someone who looks at the Iperu Airport and says, “How do I finish this?” Not someone who looks at it and says, “How do I make this look like my idea?” We need someone who sees the crude oil at Eba Island and Tongeji Island and says, “How do we maximize this for every local government?” Not someone who sees it and says, “How do I control the revenue stream for my own political future
By Dr Arabambi Abayomi
Ẹni tó bá fẹ́ jẹ ogúnkógún, ìtànkítàn ni yóò máa pa.
Those who pursue an inheritance not rightfully theirs are prone to invent or fabricate far-fetched stories to support their spurious claims.
There is an old Yoruba saying: “A kii fi omo tuntun se igbale.” You do not use a newborn child to sweep the house. The meaning is simple. A person who has not yet learned where the walls are cannot be trusted to clean the corners. In Ogun State today, as we look toward 2027, that proverb has never been more urgent. We are being asked to consider aspirants who have spent the last two years building their own political structures in secret. Separate loyalties. Separate funding. Separate networks of local government chairmen and youth leaders who answer only to them. And some of us are pretending this is normal. It is not normal. It is dangerous.
Chinua Achebe wrote in “No Longer at Ease,” and I quote: “Nobody can teach me who I am. You can describe parts of me, but only I can know the whole.” That is the problem with politicians who build independent structures while a sitting governor is still in office. They already know who they are. They already know their own whole. And that whole does not include finishing what Governor Dapo Abiodun started. They are not coming to continue. They are coming to replace. To rename. To restart. And in that process, everything we have gained will be scattered like palm kernels from a broken basket.
Let me tell you what we have gained because people forget quickly. We have an airport at Iperu. Not a mock-up. An actual airport with tarmac and control tower and planes. We have crude oil at Eba Island in Ogun Water Side Local Government . We have crude oil at Tongeji Island. But that is not all. Governor Abiodun has done roads across the three senatorial districts that were abandoned for decades. He has built schools, renovated primary health centres, turned around the Ogun State Teaching Hospital. He has worked on the Gateway City Gate project, the Sagamu Interchange, the Agro Cargo Airport at Iperu is just one piece. There is the Kajola railway wagon assembly plant. There is the rehabilitation of water schemes across the state. The list is long. These are not small things. These are generational assets. The kind of things that change how a state is funded. The kind of things that make a governor sleep less because he knows he must protect them. But more than that, they are foundations. And foundations are meant to be built upon, not abandoned. Governor Abiodun has protected what he built. He has laid the blocks. But here is the question that haunts me. Who will protect them after him? Who will take these blocks and raise the walls higher? Because if the next governor comes only to tear down and restart, then all of it—the airport, the oil, the roads, the schools, the water—becomes a story we tell our children. And I am tired of telling stories about what Ogun almost became.
John Maxwell, the leadership writer, said something that applies here perfectly. “The greatest enemy of good continuity is a leader who wants to prove he is different.” A successor who comes with his own independent political structure does not want to prove he is similar to Abiodun. He wants to prove he is different. He wants to show that his own structure is stronger, his own vision is clearer, his own projects are better. That is human nature. But human nature, left unchecked, destroys legacies. It abandons oil wells. It turns islands into forgotten promises.
Look at Lagos. I know people are tired of Lagos comparisons, but bear with me. Tinubu understood something that many of our politicians still do not understand. Continuity is not about loyalty to a man. It is about survival of a project. That is why from Fashola to Ambode to Sanwo-Olu, no successor came with a fully formed parallel structure. They worked within the existing framework. The house of assembly, the reps, the senate, the party leadership—all stayed connected. Not because Tinubu is a magician. Because the rule was clear. You cannot build a separate political kingdom inside the kingdom. And that rule is why Lagos roads keep expanding. That rule is why the Blue Rail Line did not die when governors changed. That’s why Eko Atlatis is alive and kicking today. That rule is why a new man did not wake up one day and decide to abandon the previous man’s work just to prove a point.
Now bring it home to Ogun. Achebe also wrote in “Things Fall Apart,” and I quote again: “The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one.” The politicians who are building independent structures today are coming just as quietly. A meeting here. A donation there. A few loyal chairmen. A handful of youth leaders. We are amused. We say, “Ah, he is just preparing.” But preparation without alignment is rebellion. And before we know it, the clan can no longer act like one. The party fractures. The governor’s legacy becomes a battlefield.
So let me state my opinion clearly. Governor Abiodun must not be succeeded by anyone who already has an independent political structure. Not because I hate ambition. Ambition is fine. But because a man with his own structure does not need the governor’s structure. And if he does not need it, he will not protect it. He will not fund it. He will not complete its projects. He will quietly abandon the Iperu Airport expansion because his own cronies did not get the contracts. He will redirect crude oil revenues to his own local government because his own people demand to see something for their loyalty. He will leave Tongeji Island untouched because developing it would mean admitting that Abiodun saw it first. And that kind of pride has ruined more states than corruption ever did.
John Maxwell also said, “A leader who produces other leaders multiplies his influence. A leader who produces followers adds only to his own ego.” The kind of successor we need in 2027 is a leader who will multiply Abiodun’s influence. Not a follower who is building his own empire. We need someone who looks at the Iperu Airport and says, “How do I finish this?” Not someone who looks at it and says, “How do I make this look like my idea?” We need someone who sees the crude oil at Eba Island and Tongeji Island and says, “How do we maximize this for every local government?” Not someone who sees it and says, “How do I control the revenue stream for my own political future?”
The proverb says you do not use a newborn to sweep the house. The politician who is still busy building his own structure while the governor is in office is that newborn. He has not learned where the walls are. He has not learned where the corners hide dirt. He will sweep and break things. He will clean and lose things. And we, the people of Ogun, will be left to pick up the pieces. Let us reject any aspirant who is already undermining the governor with parallel structures. Let us choose continuity. Let us choose the airport. Let us choose the oil. Let us choose Ogun.
For now, what matters most in 2027 is ensuring that Governor Dapo Abiodun’s successor, whether from within his political party or outside of it, is not someone who is arrogantly self-sufficient or dismissive of the Governor’s support. Instead, the next leader should be someone trustworthy, capable of continuing the Governor’s legacy, much like the smooth transition of leadership Lagos State has experienced since 2003. Above all, Governor Dapo Abiodun must succeed.
•Dr Arabambi Abayomi (FBAU)
State Convener
Sustainability Of Ogun Legacy Beyond 2027
•Opinions, positions or thoughts expressed here are personal and strictly of the writer/author and do not represent the views of The Daily Crucible.
