The victories of the Governors of Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states in the March 18 elections were triumphs over frenzied opposition who believed that they would unseat the governors in the polls.
The plot to oust Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State thickened with the loss of the state to Mr. Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP) in the February 25 Presidential election.
The loss of the centre of excellence in the election by the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, buoyed the beliefs of some opposition pundits that Lagos State is winnable and that its control can be wrested from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
To ensure success of the plan, a group of people who called themselves the autochthonous Eko indigenes that cut across opposition political parties ganged up to join forces with the Labour Party believed to be having an edge for the dream of winning the state to materialize.
In fact, the Director General of the Governorship campaign team of Dr. Olajide Adediran of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) resigned less than 48 hours to the gubernatorial election, all in a bid to give further impetus and strengthen the Labour Party’s governorship candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.
However, in the result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Gov. Sanwo-Olu polled a total of 762,134 votes to emerge the winner.
Mr. Rhodes-Vivour of LP trailed far behind with 312,329 votes while Adediran of PDP came a distant third with 62,449 votes.
Recall that the Senior Pastor, Way of Holiness Ministries (WHOM), Pst. Tunde Ojudun, had earlier said that God showed to him that Sanwo-Olu would win the governorship election comfortably.
The battle for Ogun State was between the sitting Governor Dapo Abiodun of APC and Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu of PDP. The two candidates are from the same town, Iperu Remo.
While Abiodun is the sitting governor, Adebutu is the son of the popular billionaire, Sir Kessignton Adebutu (Baba Ijebu).
It was a fight between money and power coming from the same quarter. The battle was fierce.
Adebutu won in Ijebu areas but Egba and Yewa people gave more votes to the governor who emerged winner with 276,298 votes against Adebutu’s 262,383.
Oyo State governorship tussle was a straight fight between the Governor, Seyi Makinde of PDP and Teslim Folarin of APC. The two candidates are from Ibadan.
To many political watchers, the victory of Makinde was a surprise even as he beat Folarin with over 300,000 votes.
People had thought that because APC won the state in the February 25 presidential election, the same thing will be replicated last Saturday.
Governor Makinde polled 563,617 votes to defeat Folarin who had 251,230 votes.
Indeed, the outcomes of the elections in the three states are simply triumphs over frenzied opposition.
