10 Successful people who experienced failure in Ogun State politics

Before entering the jungle of politics these people have made success of their careers and had a lot of success stories to tell. On getting into the political jungle, however, most of them ate the sweet and juicy parts of the fruits of politics in the beginning and later ate the bitter parts of it.

A couple of others only ate the bitter and even poisonous fruits of politics. To these latter group of people, politics is a game of regret. Read about them below:

OTUNBA GBENGA DANIEL (OGD)
This former governor of the Gateway State was a successful engineer and owner of Krestal Laurel who became successful very early in life.
During his governorship days, he enjoyed early part of his administration, with his administrative mantras like: “Awakening The Sleeping Giant”, “No Business As Usual” . He opened up the state for investment. His fame soon spread across the country. He was bestowed with a lot of awards and chieftaincy titles. 
Later his administration began to experience real political crises the moment he embarked on his second terms journey and post tenure succession plan. The moment he began to make efforts to let his political mentee, a Yewa man, Prince Gboyega Nasir Isiaka (GNI) to succeed him by 2011.
After the efforts failed and Senator Ibikunle Amosun succeeded him as governor, many of his investments like Compass Newspapers, The Westerners, Gateway Mirror, collapsed, and few others suffered some setbacks. 

Daniel later contested the national chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which he lost .
He thereafter became the Director General of the Alhaji Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organization for the last presidential election, but Atiku also lost to the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.
OGD shortly after announced his retirement from active politics, but not without making some smart decisions that contributed to the success  of the new governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun in the last election.
This man, OGD, is gradually bouncing back in the state politics, this time as a statesman, after many years of crises.

PRINCE GBOYEGA NASIR ISIAKA (GNI)

A brilliant Fellow Chartered Accountant and former Managing Director of Gateway Investments Co. Ltd, is a political mentee of former Gov. Daniel.
He contested in the governorship election and lost in 2011 under Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) which Ogun people tagged “PinPin lowo Nasiru”(Nasir money must be shared) during the governorship election.
He contested and lost again in 2015 under the PDP. Not giving up, in 2019 he vigorously wrestled for the coveted seat under another party, the African Democratic Congress(ADC) and lost as well.
Without mincing words, this amiable gentleman nicknamed GNI has suffered a lot of financial losses in Ogun State because of politics.

OTUNBA ROTIMI PASEDA
This wealthy quinquagenarian from Ijebu returned from Europe and ventured into Ogun State politics, without having sufficient knowledge of the local political games.
He wasted so much money when he bankrolled the new Unity Party of Nigeria(UPN).

He had legal tussle with the then National Chairman of the party, late Dr Frederick Fasehun, while he was contesting the governorship of Ogun State in 2015. Like others, he lost to Amosun in the race.

Paseda continued with his philanthropic activities after the elections and embarked on too early campaign preparations for the 2019 elections in 2016 which weakened his financial muscles such that he couldn’t build sufficient political structures for his UPN to withstand any of the top four political parties that really made impacts during the electioneering campaigns.
So he lost the election and a lot of his money.

RT HON. DIMEJI BANKOLE
This former Speaker of the House of Representatives has made a lot of money during his eight years of being in the hallowed chamber, in which he was Nigeria No.4 citizen for about four years.

He vied for governorship in 2015 and lost out when he boycotted the PDP primaries and went to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to contest the gubernatorial race, which ended in futility again because the party had already given the ticket to Senator Akin Odunsi .

Bankole tried again in the 2019 elections, got the gubernatorial ticket of another political organization, Action Democratic Party(ADC) and lost the election. This gulped a lot of financial fortunes. You can interpret what that means for a man who left the office of Speaker in 2011, 

HON. JELILI KAYODE AMUSAN 
This business tycoon and former House of Representatives member had wanted to contest chairmanship election in 2003 before a friend told him that position was too small for him.

He encouraged him to think big and go for House of Representatives. That advice led to his being in the hallowed chamber for eight years (2003-2011)
In 2011 he however jostled for governor and later opted for the senate when he couldn’t get PDP ticket for the gubernatorial race. The outcome was total loss.

In 2015 he repeated the process by vying for governor and lost at the primaries to GNI.
He, in 2019, contested again the senate seat. And as usual, he lost, thereby joining the group of serial political losers in the state. 

PRINCE SEGUN ADESEGUN 
This former Commissioner for works in Ogun State, was the deputy governor during Senator Ibikunle Amosun’s first term as governor.
He was however allegedly frustrated out of office. So, he couldn’t complete the four year tenure of the joint mandate given him and the governor by Ogun State people for 2011 to 2015..

In 2015, he joined the gubernatorial race after leaving the APC to seek political fortunes in the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He lost gallantly.
He tried his luck again by entering the 2019 governorship competition in 2018 but when the battle became tough, he was one of the aspirants sifted before the general election came .

SEN. SEFIU ADEGBENGA KAKA
After losing the second term bid as the Deputy Governor with the then Governor Olusegun Osoba, in 2003, he contested for governor in 2007 under another platform, Democratic People’s Party(DPP) and lost.
In 2011, he contested the Senate seat for Ogun East Senatorial District and won, when he returned to his fold, when the Action Congress of Nigeria was formed. But in 2015 while contesting for second term as a senator, he lost to that moneybags from his Ijebu-Igbo town, Prince Buruji Kasamu.
Again in 2019, rather than trying senatorial seat again, he contested the governorship and lost.

CHIEF SARAFA TUNJI ISHOLA
This former Minister of Mines and Steel Development contested the governorship seat in 2011 after being released of his ministerial duties that lasted for barely one and half years. He lost the contest at the primaries.

In 2015, he made another attempt and lost, without getting the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) of which he was founding member in the state.
He decamped to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and was later appointed the Director General of the Allied People’s Movement (APM) in 2018. But the party also lost the 2019 elections.

REV OLAJIDE AWOSEDO
This late banker and property magnate, who died last year, had suffered great financial loss which people said must have contributed greatly to his death after he went bankrupt, following his adventures into politics.

He jostled for the senate and lost at the PDP primaries in 2006, after spending hundreds of millions of naira.
The late Awosedo later decamped to the Labour Party and contested governorship election which further gulped more money from him that practically affected his wealth in 2011.
He lost the election woefully as he was not among the top three in the results. He as well ran into serious financial crisis that affected his property development companies.

He later joined the APC in 2015; but he couldn’t recover his political relevance. Instead, he ran into serious legal battles with some banks he had got loans from, which led to Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) taking over the case.
The legal tussle over his inability to pay the debt got Federal High Court judgement against him in 2017. 

He later went to appellate court. The final judgement by the Appeal Court was delivered on June 3, 2019, in which his failure to pay over N12.966billion led to the loss of his entire assets like: Victory Park Estate, Grant Properties, Goshen Beach Estate, among others.
It was in the midst of these many clouds of financial and legal tussles that he died on Tuesday June 18, at a hospital in United Kingdom. His case was "If I had known, I wouldn't have ventured into politics at all"  because all he ate from the jungle of politics was the bitter and poisoned fruits. 

OTUNBA DIPO DINA
This late Fellow Chartered Accountant turned politician was the one that suffered most among the wealthy people who experienced failures in their adventure into politics in Ogun State in this fourth republic.

He contested for the House of Representatives seat in 2003 under the platform of Alliance for Democracy (AD) and lost. In 2005 he entered the political battlefield with the incumbent governor, to become No.1 Citizen in Ogun State in 2007 as Action Congress of (ACN) candidate. He contested and lost the 2007 elections.
Not pleased with the distance third position he got from the election results, he ventured into legal battle and lost again.

Undaunted, he began preparations for the 2011 gubernatorial race, with his billboards erected across the state.
Barely a year to the election, on Monday January 25, 2010, he was killed by assassin.

That brought an end to his political ambition and permanent termination of all his dreams and aspirations in life.