OP-ED: Governor Abiodun, His 39 Fresh Appointees and 2027 Political Game
By Femi Ogundele
*What Abiodun’s 39 Appointments Really Mean*
Governor Dapo Abiodun’s recent wave of 39 political appointments in Ogun State might seem like routine governance, but in reality, it’s far from ordinary. The timing, scale, and distribution of these roles across all 20 local governments reveal something deeper — a well-coordinated political strategy to lock down grassroots control ahead of 2027.
When a governor appoints 27 liaison officers, 11 senior special assistants, and more in one sweep, it’s not just about administrative efficiency. It’s about visibility and dominance, ensuring that loyalists are embedded in every local government area, every political conversation, and every decision-making corridor. This is consolidation disguised as governance.
These appointments are strategic positioning moves. They’re not being made for performance, they’re being made for presence. With these loyalists in place, Abiodun isn’t just extending his administrative arm, he’s building a structure that can influence primaries, suppress opposition momentum, and maintain post-tenure relevance in the political terrain.
For the opposition, this should be a loud wake-up call. While they’re still aligning and debating leadership, the ruling structure is already embedding itself where it matters most — at the base. This is how power is retained in Nigeria: not by social media campaigns, but by physical structures, human networks, and boots on the ground.
Some will argue that the governor is simply strengthening service delivery. But history tells us these appointments often serve dual purposes. Yes, they help with coordination but they also carry weight in elections. They manage community perception. They influence delegate selection. And they secure the kind of loyalty money can’t buy last minute.
The political class understands the importance of early groundwork. By saturating the grassroots with trusted aides, Abiodun is doing what most seasoned politicians do — ensuring no vacuum exists that the opposition can exploit. It’s not just smart politics, it’s survival politics.
This development also raises a larger question: Is governance in Ogun becoming a political survival project? When appointments are made primarily to build electoral machinery, where does that leave service delivery? The line between public service and political engineering is dangerously thin and Ogun may be walking it right now.
Abiodun’s latest move aren’t isolated actions, they’re calculated chess pieces. And unless the opposition, the media, and the public start reading between the lines, 2027 might be decided long before campaigns even begin.