Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun may have attracted the wrath of the Muslim community following his absence at a recently concluded three-day interactive session organised by Muslim Ummah.
The event was organised for governorship candidates ahead of the general elections.
Abiodun, who is the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the state, and three others, out of the 11 candidates invited were absent.
The programme was held between last Tuesday and Thursday in Abeokuta and was organised by the Directorate of Leadership and Good Governance of the League of Imams and Alfas in the state.
While expressing disappointment, the Chairman of the Planning Committee, Quassim Sanusi said the Ummah was not happy with Abiodun over his absence as the governor, through his aides, got the invitation to participate in the interactive session.
The three others absent were the governorship candidates of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Olufemi Oguntoyinbo; Shokunbi Olanrewaju (Action Democratic Party), and Oludayo Ogunrombi (National Rescue Movement).
Those who participated at the interactive session were the candidates of the Social Democratic Party, Anthony Ojeshina; Peoples Democratic Party deputy governorship candidate, Adekunle Akinlade; Action Alliance, Samuel Adeyemi; Peoples Redemption Party, Cyrus Akinfenwa; Labour Party, Kehinde Sogunle; and African Democratic Congress, Biyi Otegbeye.
Sanusi said: “Letter was delivered via the formal channel, Dapo Abiodun campaign office, and acknowledgment obtained by us. We didn’t get any formal request from the APC candidate for a reschedule of the proposed parley with us (and) no notification that he won’t show up.
“The trio of (the candidates) of the 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, (but) 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”.
The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Kunle Somorin; the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Alhaji Waheed Odusile; and Special Adviser to the governor on Communications, Mr Remmy Hazzan, had yet to respond to the messages sent to them as of the time of filing this report.
