Abiodun Adedapo Oluseun
241,670 votes (35.49%)
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Abiodun Adedapo Oluseun is a Nigerian politician who contested the 2019 Governorship Elections as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in Ogun. They won with 242K votes (35.49%).
Biography
Abiodun Adedapo Oluseun (born 29 May 1960) is a Nigerian businessman and politician, who has served as Governor of Ogun State since May 2019. Currently a member of the All Progressives Congress, Abiodun first entered politics during the aborted Abacha transition in 1998 and remained active in politics until being elected governor in 2019.
Born in Iperu, Ogun State in 1960, Abiodun eventually became an accountant for several years before entering business in the 1990s. Alongside his business career, Abiodun entered electoral politics and was the board chairman of the Corporate Affairs Commission. Prior to his assumption of political office in 2019, he was the managing director of Heyden Petroleum and the founder of First Power Limited.
Abiodun was elected to his first term as governor by a small margin. He was re-elected by a similarly slight margin in 2023. Abiodun was born on 29 May 1960 in Iperu, Ogun State, to the royal family of Iperu. He was born into the family of Dr. Emmanuel Abiodun and Mrs. Victoria Abiodun from Iperu Remo, in Ogun East senatorial district.
Abiodun attended Christ's School Ado Ekiti in 1972, St. Joseph's College, Ondo, in 1977, and later Ondo High School in 1978. Abiodun studied Civil Engineering at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife, Osun State, and graduated with a BBA in Accounting from Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, Georgia in 1986.
Abiodun began his professional journey as a Cost Accountant at Glock Inc. in the USA from 1989 to 1991. Upon returning to Nigeria, he ventured into entrepreneurship and became the Chairman of Crestar Hydrocarbons Limited, OMS-Heyden Exploration and Production Limited, Heyden Petroleum Ltd (HPL), Alarmnet, Innovative Ventures Limited, and First Power Limited.
From 2012 to 2019, he was the Chairman of the Depot and Petroleum Product Marketers' Association (DAPPMA). Abiodun’s political career started in 1998 when he contested and won the Ogun East Senatorial seat on the platform of the defunct United Nigeria Congress Party, though this victory was truncated due to the aborted third republic. He later joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1999.
On the PDP platform, he contested the primaries for the governorship ticket in Ogun State in 2002, emerging as the runner-up. He contested in the 2015 general elections for the APC’s Ogun East Senatorial District but was unsuccessful. In 2018, he was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari as the Chairman of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
In 2019, Abiodun contested and won the governorship ticket of the APC in Ogun State general elections, becoming the fifth elected Governor of Ogun State. He won 12 of the 20 local government areas. The Building Our Future Together Agenda was implemented, anchored on Five Development Pillars (I.S.E.Y.A): Infrastructure, Social Well-being and Welfare, Education, Youth Empowerment, Job Creation, and Agriculture.
In 2023, Abiodun released 49 prison inmates who had served over 20 years and commuted death sentences to life imprisonment for three prisoners. In March 2023, he was re-elected governor under the APC, defeating Ladi Adebutu (PDP) and Biyi Otegbeye (ADC).
Prior to his 2019 election, reports highlighted discrepancies in Abiodun’s certificates, including doubts about his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) service and alleged falsification of documents. The tribunal affirmed his victory, stating the petitions failed to prove fraud. The Pandora Papers revealed offshore companies (British Virgin Islands) owned by Abiodun, violating the Code of Conduct Bureau’s regulations, though he avoided questioning the matter.
In 2022, Sahara Reporters published his 1986 arrest record in the U.S. for credit card fraud, petty theft, check forgery, and resisting arrest. Though previously referenced in his 2019 candidacy challenges, this documentation was not publicly released. Abiodun’s allies and lawyers claimed this did not impact his eligibility. Abiodun has received awards, including Best State Governor in Security Infrastructure (2021), Best Governor in Agriculture (2020), and Best Governor in Housing Delivery (2023).
Married to his childhood sweetheart, Bamidele, Abiodun has five children. In 2017, their son, Gbemiga Abiodun (DJ Olu), was found dead in his car, and in October 2023, he established a scholarship scheme for 550 students in memory of his son.
Party Positions
Policy positions from the All Progressives Congress (APC) party manifesto.
Security & Defense
Enhances compensation, medical care, housing support, scholarships, stipends, and health insurance for military personnel injured in duty and their families.
Governance & Reform
Commits to amending Nigeria’s governance architecture through constitutional review and collaboration with the National Assembly and State Governments to grant States greater autonomy over critical matters like crime prevention, prisons, stamp duties, and taxation.
Economy & Trade
Reforms the Federal Budgetary Methodology to move away from oil revenue dependence and base spending on projected growth, establishing an inflationary ceiling to optimize fiscal policy without causing excessive inflation.
Infrastructure
Launches a National Infrastructure Campaign to modernize national infrastructure by hiring millions of unemployed Nigerians through the fiscal flexibility gained from reforming budgetary methodology.
Agriculture
Will encourage local farmers to form farm cooperatives, enabling them to pool resources for modern farming equipment, fertiliser, and access priority government agricultural assistance programs (extension services), with tax breaks and credits.
Environment & Climate
Will **reduce Nigeria’s gas flaring** by removing it from the top 10 countries with highest flares, aiming to maximize sector benefits while eliminating environmental harm.
Anti-corruption
Curb reliance on imported goods via luxury taxes, higher tariffs, and processing fees while incentivizing local manufacturing with tax credits/rebates.
Enterprise grant support
Provides tax credits, holidays, and reduced interest rate loans for businesses that hire a specified percentage of youth in their workforce and offer on-the-job training.
Energy
Will increase Nigeria’s domestic crude oil production to **2.6 million barrels per day by 2027** and **4 million barrels per day by 2030**, while implementing a Special Enforcement and Monitoring Unit to deter theft, vandalism, and pipeline breaches using drones and aerial surveillance.
Education
Introduces a new management system for federally funded primary and secondary schools via Boards of Education, reserving community representation in decision-making.
Healthcare
Will strengthen primary healthcare infrastructure with incentive schemes, counterpart funding programs, and grassroots preventative care (vaccinations, cancer screening, blood pressure monitoring) in collaboration with state/local governments.
Technology & Digital
Establishment of an advisory committee to review and reform regulatory frameworks for blockchain technology and virtual asset services.
Reliefs and scholarships
Provides **conditional income support** to very poor households, tied to human capital development goals like high-school attendance, healthcare, and nutrition.
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Who declares, who drops out, who switches party: sourced, not speculation.