Crack in Ogun APC, as Abiodun, Daniel clash over outcome of 2023 poll

There appears to be disquiet within the Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) following the crisis between Governor Dapo Abiodun and one of his predecessors, Gbenga Daniel.

Our correspondent reports that Abiodun and Daniel had been at loggerheads over the outcome of the 2023 general elections.

While Daniel who ran for Ogun East Senatorial seat won the election, Abiodun narrowly won his re-election, but lost out in the same district to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Ladi Adebutu.

Shortly after the election, some of the governor’s aides accused Daniel of working against Abiodun during the election.

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Abiodun also alleged that he was betrayed and back-stabbed by his friends during the election.

Daniel, however, in an interview at the weekend, said the governor fell out with him over his support for President Bola Tinubu in the APC presidential primaries as Abiodun backed former Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo during the primaries.

“Building on the euphoria of the first election, we had an overwhelming victory. But people’s perception about the presidential election was different. People were warning us as we were going from place to place. People kept telling us that they would support Asiwaju. But they said we should leave them to take their decision during the governorship elections.

“The governor cannot tell me that he was not aware of the sentiment in the street, and most unfortunately, he relied more on sycophants and the fabricated stories they fed him,” Daniel said.

But in a swift reaction on Monday, the ruling APC rose in defense of Abiodun, describing the senator representing Ogun East as a person, “ who paints a picture of dishonesty both in private business and in power.”

The party, in a statement by the State Assistant Publicity Secretary, Olusola Blessed said, “In the first place, the lawmaker by his antecedents in private business and in power painted a picture of dishonesty, making many to wonder how he managed to get near the power corridor, to the extent of becoming the Governor of a state like Ogun.”

He said it was Governor Abiodun who rescued Daniel from “political ignominy despite strong resistance from party members who were well apprised of what he represented.

“His liberation from the political oblivion into which he threw himself out of greed became necessary after his party, the PDP, lost presidential election in 2019. Many were taken aback by the speed with which Gbenga Daniel dumped his principal, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the PDP despite his position as the Director General of the Atiku Abubakar Campaign organisation,” the APC said.