2023 Presidency: ex-Minister Of Aviation Engages OBJ In Game Of ‘Ayo’ After ‘Amala’ Meal

…Says I Bankrolled Myself

Former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, has shared a picture of himself and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former President playing a game of ‘Ayo’ in what pundits believed is a ‘brainstorming session’ ahead 2023 presidency.

Ayo Olopon game is a popular traditional game played by the Yoruba people of Nigeria. It is a game that requires a lot of brain power and mathematical skill. Ayo is played in a carved wooden box, containing twelve holes (six holes on each side), and forty-eight Ayo seeds (four seeds in each hole), according to wikipedia check.

Osita Chidoka, believed to be one of the ‘political godson’ of former President Obasanjo while he was in power, was appointed Aviation Minister by former President Goodluck Jonathan to replaced Stella Oduah, fired in February amid allegations of mismanagement of public funds.

BIGPEN reports the former Corps Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, is said to be eyeing the presidency in 2023, according to political watchers, who think the presidency may go to South-East in the next dispensation.

The indigene of Anambra state, is said to be undergoing discreet consultation nationwide ahead 2023 politicking. Some believed he is preparing for Anambra state governorship seat.

There is already agitation for power shift from the Northern part of the country to the South. “Since 1999, South-West, North-West and South-South have produced presidents, conventionally, power rotates for equity and justice as implied in the Principles of Federal Character”, an Ndigbo political association pushing for South-East presidency, the Igbo for President Solidarity Group (IPSC), said recently.

“Therefore, in 2023, passionate consideration should be accorded the South-East as the only zone in the Southern region that has yet to produce a president,’’ Dr. Olukayode Oshiariyo president of the group had said.

In his picture shared on his verified twitter page, Chidoka, said that he was spending the night in Abeokuta, Ogun state capital, home state of OBJ whom he met, and engaged in a long, deep dinner talk.

The content of the discussion, which was capped with a game of ‘Ayo’, though wrapped, may not be unconnected to his ambition to run for the presidency in 2023.

Osita Chijoka, being a student of playwright Robert Greene, author of the Machiavelli “The 48 Laws of Power”, however, was not ready to outshine his ‘political godfather’ in the game.

“After the food tasting in Ibadan, I am spending the night in Abeokuta with you know who. Long, deep and engaging after dinner talk and chilling with a game of Ayo….which he must win”.

A day earlier, Osita had said that he was engaging in a food tasting tour in the South-West but quickly added that he’s bankrolling it himself, apparently to disabuse the mind of those who would later question his funding of the tour business.

BIGPEN reports that a recent tour of state governments projects by a former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode in the South-East, from which an inquisitive journalist, Charles Eyo had tried to queried the source of the project’s touring venture, turned a social gaffe that is yet to be washed away.

“Ibadan remains a foodies paradise. I enjoyed my food tasting tour. I bankrolled myself”, Chidoka tweeted earlier before he met Obasanjo.

As usual, he got a dose of the new catchword; “who is bankrolling you”?

Some of those who commented believed the ‘food joint touring’ expedition was a cover for 2023 political consultations.