By Ayobami Ife, Abeokuta
The Ogun East Senatorial District stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have warned of the waning influence of the party on the watch of Governor Dapo Abiodun in the state, declaring that recent findings had revealed that the Ogun APC is merely living on the personality and emotion of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The APC stakeholders from the 103 wards cutting across the nine local governments of the Ogun East, denounced what they alleged as the sidelining of former governor Ibikunle Amosun, Senator Gbenga Daniel and other party leaders from the party ahead of the 2027 general elections by the Governor, saying the development doesn’t augur well for the health of the state chapter of the party.
They made this known on Tuesday at the Aseludero Court, the private residence of Gbenga Daniel located within the Government Reservation Area(GRA) of Sagamu during a World Press Conference on the state of the APC in Ogun State and related matters.
The prepared press speech read by Daniel’a aide, Mr. Steve Oliyide, was endorsed by General Olumuyiwa Okunowo (Rtd), Giwa Comrade Niyi -Osoba Ph.D, Otunba (Dr.) Korede Okusanya, Princess Ronke Oduneye, Aremo Barr. Babatunde Adesanya, Mrs. Josephine Makanjuola,
Dr. Bankole Osisanya, Hon. Wole Olubena, Arc. Abiodun Adesanya,
Mr. Dele Osifade and Alhaja Ganiyat Busari.
They alleged that Governor Dapo Abiodun’s quest for the 2027 senatorial ticket of the All Progressives Congress(APC) was the reason for the purported suspension of Senator Gbenga Daniel recently by the party in the state.
They also identified the same 2027 Ogun East senatorial ambition of the Governor as the driving force behind the relentless persecution Senator Daniel had been grappling with on the watch Dapo Abiodun’s administration in the last two years ahead of 2027 general elections.
They noted that despite Daniel’s efforts that helped Dapo Abiodun actualise his governorship ambition in 2019, the governor, they alleged, had continued to undermine the former governor’s Senatorial ambition since 2022.
The stakeholders wondered why the Senator’s so called suspension was not announced by the appropriate organs and structure of the party, declaring such accounted for why the announcements were not given any seriousness as there was no official communication about any offence, no allegation levied, no invitation to attend any Investigative Panel or letter of suspension sent to him.
According to them, it has been established that the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Dapo Abiodun was behind the circulation of an unsigned press statement bearing Daniel’s purported suspension from the party.
The statement read, “We have no doubt, and let no one be deceived, that this is all connected to the Politics of 2027 and especially the APC ticket for the Ogun East Senatorial District.
“It must be emphasised that after the long and tortuous journey to secure the ticket of the APC in 2022, Otunba Gbenga Daniel picked the 2nd of October to flag off his campaign at Ita Oba in Sagamu and as a responsible party man, dutifully invited the Governor as the Special Guest of Honour to declare the campaign open but the Governor did not attend, neither was he represented. Instead, he passed an instruction around to discourage party members from attending. Those who disregarded such directives were also sanctioned. Some public servants who ignored the order not to attend were also served with query letters.
“When the Senate was to be convened for the first time on the 13th of June, 2023, OGD chartered aircraft to convey stakeholders in Ogun East Senatorial District to Abuja for the inauguration, curiously our Governor once again using the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Tokunbo Talabi started calling several leaders who were already on the manifest, some of whom have also boarded, including traditional rulers to disembark from that journey and most with a tone of threat.”
The stakeholders said the party belongs to everybody, vowing to remain in the APC and mobilise their terming supporters to work the 2027 re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Otunba Gbenga Daniel.
Text of World Press Conference on the State of APC in Ogun State
Gentlemen of the Press!
1. In the last few days, you must have heard the rumours going round about the purported suspension of His Excellency, The Senator, Otunba Engr. Gbenga Daniel. This joke started a few months ago, precisely in August, 2025 with a Facebook post by someone who for the first time introduced himself as the Director of Publicity of our great Party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Ogun State. What a creative way to announce or launch an appointment which hitherto was unknown to several members of the party in the State as at that time.
2. For your quick recall, let me reproduce the sequence of this joke called suspension. On the Facebook post, the State Executive Committee of the All Progressive Congress was said to have ratified the suspension by a Ward 4 Excos following the report of a purported Investigation Committee set up to investigate an alleged anti-party activities by Senator Otunba Gbenga Daniel. There were some fundamental issues in this process:
3. One, is it ethical and logical to announce a suspension order on the personal Facebook page of an individual who was hitherto not known to the party and such will be accorded any seriousness?
4. Here we are talking about a former Governor of the State and a serving Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. What happens to the Chairman of the Party in the State? Where is the State Secretary of the party? It therefore suggests that such announcements cannot be given any seriousness especially because there was no official communication about any offence, no allegation levied, no invitation to attend any Investigative Panel, no letter of suspension, and I say with emphasis none was even sighted by any known journalists, though sadly some of our colleagues went to town to publish this Facebook post as if it were a real event without cross-checking with the real leadership of the party in the State or at the National for oral confirmation and proper attribution.
5. The essence of this Press Conference is that just last week, precisely on the 5th of November, 2025, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Ogun State, Lekan Adeniran shared an unsigned Press Statement with the media speaking to the same issue purporting to reiterate the none existing “suspension” order and dispensing strict orders to the leadership of the party in Abuja on who to recognize as a member. Again, a warning letter was referred to as having been sent to the National Chairman of the party on the 3rd of October, 2025 (clearly over one month before the said Press Statement) in this regard. Such letter, as usual was not displayed nor shown to the media. Yet, some of our colleagues in the media went to town with this news without asking to verify or seek to see the copy of the said letter.
6. From the latest developments, we can now confirm that it is the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor who shared the unsigned Press Statement. We hereby respond as follows: Is it appropriate in a well-structured party like ours where we have a State Chairman, Secretary and other elected officials, for the Chief Press Secretary of the State government and an appointee, most especially the Spokesperson of the Governor who himself is an interested party or who has vested interest to speak for and on behalf of the All Progressive Congress in Ogun State?
State of APC in Ogun State
7. To answer this challenge, we have no doubt, and let no one be deceived, that this is all connected to the Politics of 2027 and especially the APC ticket for the Ogun East Senatorial District. We therefore need to have a little background of the development in and the strength of the APC since 2019.
8. Preamble:
Building up to the general election of 2019, it was common knowledge that the All Progressive Congress (APC) has been degraded and was on the verge of losing the election, especially because of internal disputes arising from the Primaries of the party, wherein the then Governor of the State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, had moved almost every member of the APC to the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).
9. Former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel (OGD), who was at that time a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), at the instance and based on the directive of the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu whose relationship with Otunba Gbenga Daniel dates back several years, rallied, amongst others which include various traditional rulers and stakeholders, all his supporters to vote for the APC and for Prince Dapo Abiodun. (Cue)
10. Prince Dapo Abiodun himself visited the Asoludero Court residence of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, who not only publicly endorsed the candidate of the APC then but also mobilised his supporters to rally voters’ support for the election of Prince Dapo Abiodun. Despite these efforts Prince Dapo Abiodun won with a margin of 19,000 votes, the lowest margin of victory in the history of gubernatorial elections in Ogun State as at that time.
11. It is also instructive to say that the victory of 2019 was largely from the Ogun East Senatorial District under the direction of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, at that time when Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu and his faction of PDP had also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Senator Ibikunle Amosun’s APM for the 2019 governorship election. The APC lost elections and most of the votes in the Ogun West and Ogun Central Senatorial Districts. Kindly find the table showing the results of that election below:
• 2019 Election Result in Ogun East Senatorial District*
OGUN EAST OGUN WEST OGUN CENTRAL
IJEBU NORTH
ADC 1, 189
ADP 447
APC 10, 574
APM 7, 477
PDP 21, 851 EGBADO NORTH
ADC 17, 044
ADP 2, 145
APC 7,742
APM 12, 208
PDP 1, 590
IFO
ADC 7, 260
ADP 605
APC 15,642
APM 17,614
PDP 2, 684
IKENNE
APC – 15109
APM – 6553
ADC – 653
ADP – 23
PDP – 1040
IPOKIA
ADC 3,334
APC 12,890
APM 26, 291
PDP 1, 846
OBAFEMI OWODE
APC – 13660
APM – 8303
ADC – 5046
ADP – 808
PDP – 2233
OGUN WATERSIDE
APC – 8957
APM – 5803
ADC – 497
ADP – 36
PDP – 3211
EGBADO SOUTH
APC – 8804
APM – 13622
ADC – 9935
ADP – 437
PDP – 1721 ABEOKUTA NORTH
APC – 12130
APM – 16708
ADC – 10453
ADP – 461
PDP – 951
REMO NORTH
APC – 7437
APM – 4987
ADC – 947
ADP – 58
PDP – 930
IMEKO AFON
APC – 2657
APM – 7401
ADC – 15,272
ADP – 184
PDP – 529 ODEDA LG
ADC 4, 327
ADP 438
APC 8, 030
APM 6,454
PDP 1,041
IJEBU EAST
ADC 574
ADP 223
APC 10, 726
APM 5, 147
PDP 5, 296
EWEKORO LG
ADC 3,241
ADP 274
APC 6, 492
APM 7, 588
PDP 1, 418
IJEBU ODE LG
APC – 1, 3234
APM – 4, 401
ADC – 349
PDP – 7, 289
ABEOKUTA SOUTH
ADC 13, 572
ADP 1, 642
APC 19, 414
APM 18, 767
PDP 1, 770
ODOGBOLU LG
APC – 12529
APM – 7516
ADC – 1001
PDP – 3418
SAGAMU LG
ADC 2,486
ADP 355
APC 23, 737
APM 14, 469
PDP 4,415
IJEBU NORTH EAST
ADC 541
ADP 329
APC 7, 268
APM 2,785
PDP 3,482
Note: Apart from Ijebu North where the PDP won because Senator Buruji Kashamu, the PDP gubernatorial candidate in that election was from that local government, our party the APC won in all the other eight (8) local government councils with the support of Otunba Gbenga Daniel.
How OGD Joined APC
12. On Wednesday, 17th day of February, 2021, several Governors elected on the platform of the APC, including the then Governors H.E. Mohammed Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), now Defence Minister; H.E. Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), now Minister of Budget and National Planning; H.E. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (Aketi), now late; H.E. Mohammed Bello Matawalle (Zamfara, who was then still in the PDP); Abdulahi Umar Ganduje (Kano); Prince Dapo Abiodun (Ogun) and his Deputy, Noimot Salako-Oyedele and Alhaji Kashim Imam paid a courtesy visit to the Asoludero Court Sagamu residence of Otunba Gbenga Daniel and the result of that was the invitation to join the All Progressive Congress. The Governors also accompanied him to his Isote Ward 12 in Sagamu to pick the membership card of the APC later that night.
13. In the build up to the 2023 elections, Otunba Gbenga Daniel commissioned an Independent Public Opinion Poll using a very credible pollster organization to test the popularity of the APC against all other political parties in Ogun State. The result of that poll was quite damning for the APC. Several citizens, including party members have become disillusioned about the dismal performance of our government which has rubbed negatively on the public perception of our party.
14. As a responsible party leader of the party, Otunba Daniel decided to move to the streets, embarked on Ward Tours (to all the 103 Wards in the nine Local Government Council areas, capping it up with 13 Mega rallies in all Ogun East Senatorial District), he rolled out massive Empowerment programs, thousands of Scholarship awards, donated nine tractors, several cars among other items to reignite and stimulate the people’s interests in the party, a program which Otunba Daniel has been embarking on in the last 25 years and have impacted positively on the lives of over half a million people Kindly see pictures and videos of some of these efforts on the screen.
15. Curiously, during these Ward tours, the people of Ogun East Senatorial District where Otunba Daniel concentrated his efforts on, kept telling Otunba Daniel to speak to them only about himself and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu but to leave them to decide on the choice of their governorship candidate.
16. This disillusionment and disinterest manifested in the outcome and results of the Governorship elections in March, 2023 where the results was even far worse than what obtained in 2019. Our Governor only managed a win with only 13,000 votes margin; lost in 7 out of the 9 local government councils in Ogun East including in all the three wards in Iperu (3, 4, and 5) where the Governor came from, and also lost his Ikenne Local Government Council. Kindly see the attached Table:
* Ogun 2023 governorship Election result in Ogun East
OGUN EAST OGUN WEST OGUN CENTRAL
IJEBU NORTH LG
APC; 18,815
PDP: 15,904
ADC: 2,393
YEWA NORTH LG
APC; 15,331
PDP: 11,627
ADC: 12,190
ODEDA LG
APC: 11,089
PDP: 8,050
NNPP: 31
ADC: 3,651
IKENNE LG
APC; 9,125
PDP: 12,472
ADC; 336
Yewa South LG
APC; 15,047
PDP: 10,913
ADC: 6,435
EWEKORO LG
APC: 8,192
PDP; 7,449
ADC; 3,881
IJEBU NORTH EAST LG
APC; 5,408
PDP; 7,086
ADC; 1,448 IPOKIA LG
APC: 21,338
PDP: 19,189
ADC: 1,897 ABEOKUTA SOUTH LG
APC; 19,689
PDP: 24,175
ADC: 9,264
IJEBU ODE LG
APC; 12,907
PDP: 10,714
ADC: 1,348 IMEKO AFON LG
APC; 9,591
PDP: 6,981
ADC; 6, 124 ABEOKUTA NORTH LG
APC; 14,294
PDP: 12,622
ADC; 9,143
IJEBU EAST LG
APC: 7,882
PDP; 11,242
ADC: 1,885 ADO ODO OTA LG
APC; 39,006
PDP; 31,022
ADC; 12,174 OBAFEMI OWODE LG
APC; 15,466
PDP; 11,004
ADC; 5,105
Remo North LG
APC: 4,306
PDP; 8,177
ADC; 327 IFO LG
APC; 20,653
PDP; 16,052
ADC; 11,040
ODOGBOLU LG
APC; 9,143
PDP; 12,963
ADC; 1,281
OGUN WATERSIDE LG
APC; 5,878
PDP: 7,716
ADC; 2,575
SAGAMU LG
APC; 13,128
PDP; 17, 025
ADC; 2,257
TOTAL: APC; 276,298
PDP; 262,383
17. This was in the same election cycle where Otunba Gbenga Daniel and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu won landslide barely two weeks earlier. Otunba Daniel won with 115,147 votes (the highest so far in the history of Senatorial elections) in the Ogun East Senatorial election and Prince Dapo Abiodun managed to poll 86,000 votes (over 40,000 of which was even challenged and contested by the Opposition) in that election.
18. These margins of victory would rather be considered scary going forward into future elections. The result of the 2023 election is bad enough for our Governor to find a way to unite the party, instead all members perceived to be loyal to OGD are being persecuted.
19. It must be emphasized that after the long and tortuous journey to secure the ticket of the APC in 2022, Otunba Gbenga Daniel picked the 2nd of October to flag off his campaign at Ita Oba in Sagamu and as a responsible party man, dutifully invitated the Governor as the Special Guest of Honour to come and declare the campaign open but the Governor did not attend, neither was he represented. Instead, he passed an instruction around to discourage party members from attending. Those who disregarded such directives were also sanctioned. Some public servants who ignored the order not to attend were also served with query letters. Please see attached:
20. In all the tours to the 103 wards in the Ogun East Senatorial District, our Governor never attended a single one.
However, our Governor with all the machinery of State; Commissioners, Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistants, Special Assistants, with thousands of Board appointees have conveniently blamed Otunba Gbenga Daniel, a former Governor who had been out of office for twelve years for his abysmal electoral performance in 2023.
21. When the Senate was to be convened for the first time on the 13th of June, 2023, OGD chartered aircraft to convey stakeholders in Ogun East Senatorial District to Abuja for the inauguration, curiously our Governor once again using the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Tokunbo Talabi started calling several leaders who were already on the manifest, some of whom have also boarded, including traditional rulers to disembark from that journey and most with a tone of threat.
22. A recent poll conducted in February 2025 shows that the only thing the party is clinging onto is the personality of, and emotion around President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
We are therefore worried that Otunba Gbenga Daniel, a former Governor who governed the state for eight years (2003-2011), who raised the Governor’s hands in endorsement during the 2019 election has been completely alienated from the party. Ditto for Governor Amosun who governed between 2011 and 2019. What is the fate of the party where the two longest served Governors in the history of the state are completely ostracized?
Remo Federal Constituency Bye-election
23. When the Special Campaign Committee for the Remo Federal Constituency Bye-election in July was being constituted, neither Otunba Daniel, nor any of his supporters, were considered in the list. OGD protested to the leadership of the party in Ogun State, but there was no attempt whatsoever to redress this, and this appears like a premeditated action. Inspite of that, Senator Daniel magnanimously, even in the face of the political embarrassment, supported our party’s candidate both morally with a public broadcast of endorsement, and financially contributed to the campaign through:
• The Director General of the Campaign Committee set up by the Governor
• Ogun State National Assembly (NASS) Caucus
• Directly to the candidate, Hon Elegbeji herself. Otunba Daniel also gave moral supports, directing some of his aides and supporters to work with her campaign structure.
24. It is also no news that party meetings at all levels have not been holding in Ogun State for a long time. The overall effect of this in our estimation is that, when there are no such party meetings held regularly among members, it stifles the growth of our party and limits the expansion and admittance of new members. There are also yet to be confirmed rumours that some members of the Party executives expected to conduct Party Primaries to select delegates at future elections might have been compromised through or being subjected to ritual oaths in various shrines across the State.
24. We call on the Party leadership at the National level to investigate how and why the President could have lost in the Polling unit where the Governor voted and in the political ward of the Governor during the 2023 presidential elections. The administration of our Party would be better managed when all stakeholders are mobilized in unity to complement one another for a total and overall Victory.
25. Curiously again, in the midnight of Saturday/Sunday the 10th of September, 2023, DATKEM Plaza, a 5-storey property of Yeye Olufunke Daniel, wife of Senator Otunba Gbenga Daniel was willfully destroyed by men believed to be agents of the government two weeks to its official Commissioning. As if that was not enough, a few weeks ago, demolition notices were posted on several other properties of Otunba Gbenga Daniel. In all of these, OGD had maintained a Stoic silence to keep the peace in Ogun State and in our party, choosing instead to take lawful recourse to the Law courts to seek redress. We therefore wonder if these actions are desirable for stakeholders within the same political party. For the records, let me emphasise that all building plans with all statutory approvals are clearly available and have been submitted before the courts.
26. Coming back to the purported suspension of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, we believe the treatment meted out to a former Governor and a serving Senator of the Federal Republic where a purported suspension order was touted online by unofficial sources without any clear details of alleged offences and in a sweeping generalisation as anti-party activities without investigation negates the rule of law, breached all democratic tenets and principles. It is also a breach to well-established rights to fair hearing and an affront to the principles of constitutional democracy anywhere in the world. In their claims, Otunba Daniel was allegedly investigated and suspended by the Excos of Ward 4 in Sagamu where he is not even registered as a member. For the records, Otunba Gbenga Daniel is a registered member of the APC in Isote Ward 12. So, how can he be suspended in a Ward where he is not even registered?
Recommendations
27. The dynamics of politics and formula for winning elections in Ogun State is usually of a Coalition Pattern; this strategy has always delivered victory to any political party in Ogun State since the return of Democracy in 1999.
28. It is therefore important to keep all the stakeholders within the party by taking a second look at the distribution structures in the State Party Executives as we approach a new Congress and, by extension, the elective positions in the Party and in future elections in the State using areas and spheres of influence as parameters.
29. At the moment, the camp of the Governor is holding wholesale to all the State Party Executive positions from the Ward level to the State. We think both the Party Structures/positions and elective offices could be better distributed among all the stakeholders to protect all interests across ethnic and political divides and all Stakeholders are given a sense of belonging.
30. As a quick recap, our party, the APC won the 2019 election with a vote margin of 19,517, even with a rainbow collation. We also won in only eleven of the twenty local government areas, with nine out of this coming from just Ogun East Senatorial district. It is safe to assume that for sheer luck, our fate may have been different as the other two Senatorial districts went the way of the opposition in a three-horse race. This result even became worse in the 2023 elections the margin came down to 13,000. The National and State leadership of our party should note that our party lost in the Governorship elections and nine (9) out of the eleven State Assembly seats in the Ogun East Senatorial District where the Governor and Otunba Gbenga Daniel both came from. Our party lost the Governorship seat in the Ward and the Local Government of the Governor.
31. Based on the submissions above, it is our considered opinion that the earlier we fix this tear in the party before it becomes a rent, the better for us all. Our party is dear to us and we must do everything humanly possible to save and salvage it.
Thanks.
Signed:
Gen. Olumuyiwa Okunowo (Rtd)
Giwa Comrade Niyi -Osoba Ph.D
Otunba (Dr.) Korede Okusanya
Princess Ronke Oduneye
Aremo Barr. Babatunde Adesanya
Mrs. Josephine Makanjuola
Dr. Bankole Osisanya
Hon. Wole Olubena
Arc. Abiodun Adesanya
Mr. Dele Osifade
Alhaja Ganiyat Busari
