A group within the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ogun State, the APC National Youth League, Ogun State Coordinate, has called on the party’s national leadership to suspend immediately a former governor of the state and senator-elect for Ogun East senatorial district, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, for working against the party in the March 18 governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state.
Urging the party leadership to strip Daniel of every privilege and benefit of being a member of the ruling party, the APC Youth League, also demanded that the former governor should be compelled to refund the money he got from the APC to prosecute his own election.
These calls were contained in a letter entitled: ‘Need to Sanction Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Senator-Elect, Ogun East Senatorial District of Ogun State,’ dated March 31st and jointly signed by the state coordinator and Secretary of the APC Youth League, Fayomi Yunus and Abbas Olanrewaju Ismail, respectively.
The purported letter addressed to the National Chairman of the APC, stated that the former governor was found out to have rigorously worked against the interest of the APC during the March 18 elections in the state, a situation which almost scuttled the chances of victory of the party at the poll.
Further calling on the APC national leadership to decide the appropriate action against Daniel as stipulated by the party constitution with regard to such anti-party tendencies, the APC Youth League, with membership across the 236 wards of Ogun State, said that a discreet investigation revealed that the former governor had several nocturnal meetings ahead of the poll with members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state, with surreptitious plans to work against the re-election of Governor Dapo Abiodun.
The group averred that the investigation further revealed that Daniel collected several millions of naira to work for the emergence of the PDP governorship candidate, Oladipupo Adebutu, against the APC and the incumbent governor.
The statement added that “Daniel was tracked and discovered to have led the PDP machinery that worked for Adebutu in Ogun East, with the attendant propaganda instruments led by his prominent aides against Governor Abiodun, without any rebuttal from the former governor.”
The League, however, expressed its dismay that the senator-elect “could go so low to have compromised the sanctity of party loyalty and solidarity, by forming an unholy alliance with the PDP, his supposed former party, to stop the re-election Governor Abiodun.”
The letter reads, “The APC Youth League, Ogun State Coordinate, with its membership across all the 236 wards of the state considers it a great obligation, as a matter of exigency, to address you today as a result of a certain unpalatable situation that played out in the last gubernatorial election in our dear state, Ogun State, as it affects our party and threatens its cohesiveness. We are particularly disappointed and taken aback by the surreptitious activities of a former governor of the state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, in the just concluded governorship election, where he vehemently worked against the interest of our party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and almost scuttled our chances of victory.
“It was utterly strange that Otunba Gbenga Daniel, could go that low to have compromised the sanctity of party loyalty and solidarity, by forming an unholy alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party, his supposed former party, to stop the re-election of Governor Dapo Abiodun. We have it on good authority through discreet investigation how Otunba Gbenga Daniel held several nocturnal meetings with leaders of the PDP and the Adebutus, in the build up to the governorship election, where money in hundreds of millions was given to him to work for the candidate of the PDP, Mr Adebutu, against the party that gave him a ticket to represent his senatorial district at the red chamber of the National Assembly.
“Otunba Daniel, was tracked and discovered to have led the PDP machinery that worked for Ladi Adebutu in Ogun East, with the attendant propaganda instruments led by Daniel’s prominent aides against our candidate, Prince Dapo Abiodun, without any rebuttal from Daniel himself.
“It is no more news that Otunba Daniel, consciously collapsed the remnant of his political structure for Ladi Adebutu and worked against the APC which gave him ticket and also sponsored his election.
“It is now obvious that the original notion behind the defection of Governor Daniel into APC in 2021 was to deceptively secure the ticket of our party, having realized the PDP was no more popular in his domain and could not win any credible election, then to later serve as a mole to destroy our party to the advantage of his original party, the PDP.
“It is against this backdrop that we call on the national leadership of our great party to demand for the immediate suspension of Otunba Daniel from our party, the APC, and strip him of every privilege of membership.
“We also demand that the national leadership should ask Otunba Daniel to refund every kobo he got from the party to prosecute his election and further decide the appropriate action against him as stipulated by our constitution with regard to such anti party tendencies.”
