The Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, seems to have invited the wrath of the Muslim community following his absence at the recently-concluded three-day interactive session.
The Muslim Ummah had organised an interactive session with governorship ahead of the coming election.
They invited eleven candidates, but seven attended, while three others including Abiodun were absent.
The programme held between Tuesday and Thursday in Abeokuta by the Directorate of Leadership and Good Governance of the League of Imams and Alfas in the state .
Lamenting on the failure of Abiodun, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the state, the chairman planning committee of the event, Quassim Sanusi, said the Ummah was not happy with the governor over his absence.
Sanusi said that the governor through his aides got the invitation to participate in the interactive session, slated for Wednesday.
Our correspodent gathered that the Wednesday schedule which was the second day of the event, clashed with the visit of the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, in Abeokuta.
Apart from Abiodun, the New Ngeria Peoples Party candidate, Olufemi Oguntoyinbo; candidate for Action Democratic Party, Shokunbi Olanrewaju; and Oludayo Ogunrombi from National Rescue Movement, were also absent from the event.
The candidates who attended the interactive session were the candidates of Social Democratic Party, Anthony Ojeshina; People’s Democratic Party running mate Adekunle Akinlade; Action Alliance, Samuel Adeyemi; Peoples Redemption Party, Cyrus Akinfenwa; Labour Party, Kehinde Sogunle; and African Democratic Congress, Biyi Otegbeye.
Reacting to the absence, Sanusi said that all the governorship candidates in the state who had been confirmed by the Independent National Electoral Commission were given invitation.
He said, “The letter was delivered via the formal channel, Dapo Abiodun campaign office, and acknowledgement obtained by us. We didn’t get any formal request from the APC candidate for a reschedule of the proposed parley with us. No notification that he won’t show up.
“The trio of NNPP, NRM, and ADP received our invitations and committed to the event but did not show up after all.
“In fact, the PDP candidate, Ladi Adebutu, who could have been excused due to the death of his mother sent his deputy, Adekunle Akinlade.
“We scheduled governor Abiodun for Wednesday which clashed with the campaign of the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
“We gave him another chance to appear the following day, he never showed up and never got back to us . This is disrespectful to the Imams and Alfas in the state. Others did the same.”
Meanwhile,the seven governorship candidates who attended the sessions took turn to declare their intentions if elected as the next governor of the state.
The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Kunle Somorin; the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Waheed Odusile and Special Adviser to the governor on Communications, Remmy Hazzan; had yet to respond to the messages sent to their mobile lines.
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