Imeko – Afon as valley of blessings for Governor Abiodun

By Femi Dokunmu

Spiritually and strategically, Governor Dapo Abiodun did not put his wrong foot out when he decided to kick-off his campaign for re-election from the Imeko-Afon Local Government area of Ogun State. The decision may have been spiritually guided and taken as one of the Governor’s calculated move, as a chess maestro, to checkmate his political opponents and strengthen his winning margin in the election, as far as Imeko-Afon is concerned.

For those who know the terrain of the area, the Afon Valley or Koto Afon is a highly dreaded valley for motorists and commuters along the road. In history, the people of Afon used the valley as a buffer between its army and their enemies. Over the years however, many farmers have turned the valley to fertile ground for farming. It has since become a valley of blessing. The valley is located along the Abeokuta-Imeko road.

Spiritually, the Afon Valley can be likened to the Berakah Valley in the Bible which was traditionally a valley where battles were fought. However, with God’s guidance after King Jehoshaphat had gathered his people together to pray to God, his enemies were conquered miraculously and Jehoshaphat’s army spent three long days collecting the valuables of their enemies which included gold, silver and precious jewels. This turn of events made Jehoshaphat’s people to change the name of the valley from Valley of Battles to Valley of Blessings. Just as the valley was on the road to the holy city of Jerusalem, so also the Afon Valley is on the road to the holy Celestial City of Imeko.

It would be recalled that just like King Jehoshaphat in the Bible, Governor Dapo Abiodun must have been guided by God not only to gather his people to join the Celestial Church congregation at their end of year prayers in Imeko, but also to choose Imeko-Afon as the Local Government area to gather his people in the All Progressive Congress (APC) to pray and commit his campaign activities to the hands of God Almighty.

With this symbolic spiritual guidance and for trusting in God, Governor Abiodun shall reap the blessings from this valley area and this shall come in form of a defeat for his political enemies and massive votes for the APC in the general elections.

Strategically, Governor Abiodun and the leadership of his Campaign Council made no mistake kick-starting the governor’s re-election campaign from Imeko-Afon Local Government Council. 

It would be recalled that in the 2019 elections, the ADC of Gboyega Nasir Isiaka polled 15,272 votes as against 2,657 of APC, 7,401 of APM and 529 of the PDP. Even if you combine the votes of APM and APC as two sides of the same party, it would come to 10,058 which still gives the ADC over 5,000 votes more. This implies that In  2019, Imeko-Afon was a Valley of Defeat for the APC. However, both Prince Gboyega Nasir Isiaka and Hon. Jemili Akingbade who were key factors in winning Imeko-Afon for ADC in 2019 are now in the APC standing for election in the party as Member, House of Representatives and Member, House of Assembly, respectively. In addition, political dynamics in the Council area has thrown up Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola as a strong rallying point for many top politicians in the Council drawn across all parties. The implication of this is that the Governor and the APC stands to be blessed with massive votes by the people of Imeko-Afon, come February and March elections.

It therefore stands to reason that Governor Abiodun’s choice of Imeko-Afon as the first Local Government Council area to host his campaign is a deft calculation to consolidate on the gains of APC in the Council and boost the morale of the key political players in the party. 

Suffice it to say that now that the Governor has flagged off his campaign, it behoves the key players in Imeko-Afon APC, namely; Senator Olamilekan Adeola, Prince Gboyega Isiaka, Hon. Jemili Akingbade, Hon. Kayode Oladele and others to close ranks and consolidate on the gesture clearly made and the goodwill already established by the prime of place given to Imeko-Afon in the campaign towards the 2023 elections.