Some leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ogun East Senatorial District have faulted the recent caucus meeting where Governor Dapo Abiodun was endorsed as the consensus candidate for the 2027 elections.
Recall that the endorsement was announced at Monday’s meeting held at Adeola Odutola Hall, Ijebu Ode, where a former governor and senator representing the district, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, was allegedly denied access to the venue.
Daniel, in a viral video, was seen addressing his supporters, saying, “We are here for our caucus meeting, and I got here by 10 a.m. They said we shouldn’t enter the venue in Ijebu-Ode. Therefore, if they do anything here today without my presence, it is an exercise in futility.”
However, at the end of the meeting, Governor Dapo Abiodun was announced as the consensus candidate for the senatorial district come 2027.
Speaking to newsmen on Thursday at a press conference held in Sagamu, the Director-General of the BATOGD movement, General Olumiyiwa Okunowo (Rtd), described the gathering as a mere “Governor Abiodun’s meeting” rather than a genuine caucus session.
He alleged that more than half of those in attendance were not qualified to attend a senatorial caucus meeting, arguing that the process was stage-managed to produce a predetermined outcome.
His words: “Of course, those who were appointed by the Governor have the democratic right to anoint whichever candidate they prefer, even if that person is their principal. However, using the name of the party to bait attendance at such events is what gives us concern. Most of the leaders, including our leader, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, were baited into attending the event under the guise of a Caucus Meeting of Stakeholders of the Ogun East Senatorial District.
“It was only upon arrival that many discovered that more than half of the people in the hall were not even qualified to attend a senatorial caucus meeting. Some of our members who were eminently qualified to attend, according to the notice of invitation, were told pointedly to leave the venue, with the explanation that ‘this is a DA show’ and could be attended only by loyalists of the Governor.
“We do not deny them their right to hold their own show, and we believe this must account for why our leader, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, was denied access to a ‘DA show.’ No ill feeling, but they should have been bold enough to make the notifications clear about their true intention, rather than using the name of our great party to drag our leaders into ratifying a premeditated ‘show’,” he stated.
Also speaking, Tayo Onayemi, the Deputy Director-General of the movement, recounted how he was threatened at the meeting and told to leave or face consequences.
Onayemi said, “When they saw me, they established that the place was for Dapo Abiodun’s people, and they asked me to go out or there would be a problem.”
The movement also decried a heavy security “siege” by operatives of the Nigeria Police Force on all roads leading to the residence of Gbenga Daniel on Wednesday, labelling the move as an act of “executive lawlessness” and a throwback to military-era tactics.
According to them, the security crackdown was a calculated attempt to disrupt their ongoing Community Assessment and Review Tour—a grassroots empowerment initiative that has already visited seven out of nine local government areas in the district without incident.
“We are deeply surprised by this turn of events, as we see no reason to warrant the deployment of armoured vehicles and detachments of security forces in their hundreds,” they added.
Meanwhile, they urged the party’s national leadership to intervene in the situation to prevent democracy from being trampled underfoot and reiterated the unanimous adoption of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the consensus candidate for the forthcoming presidential elections in 2027, stressing that he has demonstrated the capacity to tackle the country’s challenges.
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