Ogun Strongmen And Godfathers, Each With His Guber Candidate: PDP’s Daniel Picks APC’s Abiodun



The Oasis Reporters
March 8, 2019

The humour side of the gubernatorial election in Ogun state is that who your Party candidate is, simply doesn’t matter. Take Gbenga Daniel for instance, a former two term People’s Democratic Party, PDP governor of the state who has risen in rank to become the Director General of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign
Organisation.
One would say that Gbenga Daniel is a core PDP man, through and through.
Then Daniel said: “You would have noticed my studied silence in our local politics in recent times. I have busied myself with National politics having served the state for 8 years.”
He directed the supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Remo, Ogun State, to vote for Dapo Abiodun, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State.
Daniel made this known in a statement he issued on Thursday.
The PDP governorship candidate in Ogun State is Buruji Kashamu, a man it seems he doesn’t get along with.

However, Kashamu’s candidature, which was affirmed by a court ruling in January, did not sit well with the national leadership of the party, which presented Ladi Adebutu as its preferred candidate in the state. A court ruling on Wednesday then reaffirmed Kashamu’s candidature.
Daniel went on to say, “I have also been very busy supporting the ambition of the son of our great philanthropist in Remoland to become the next Governor of our dear state. You, however, would have become aware of the court decision yesterday which did not favour him.
“Going forward, I have directed all our structures statewide to cast all their votes on Saturday for Prince Dapo Abiodun, another bona fide Remo son despite current party differences. I therefore, enjoin all to please go and cast your vote on Saturday for Dapo Abiodun in the overall interest of our people.”
There it is. A PDP strong man and leader, asking party cadres to vote for the opposition.
Then listen to the All Progressives Congress, APC governor of the state, Ibikunle Amosun. While a PDP leader in the Gateway state is asking party members to vote for the opposition, the APC governor himself is supporting an entirely different governorship candidate against his own party, the APC without fear.
The Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, has said his support for the candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), against that of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), is borne out of his commitment towards ensuring equity, justice and fairness as well as peaceful elections.
He said his support for the APM candidate, Adekunle Akinlade, and not Dapo Abiodun of the APC, was in accordance with the collective decision of the APC to ensure the emergence of an indigene of the Ogun West Senatorial District, as the next governor of the state.
The governor was speaking at the church service to mark the 60th birthday of the Archbishop of Lagos Ecclesiastical Province and Bishop, Diocese of Remo, Michael Fape. The event was held at Our Saviour’s Anglican Church, Ikenne, in Ikenne Local Government Area. It was graced by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo; former governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel; elder statesman, Ayo Adebanjo; and the Akarigbo and Paramount ruler of Remo land, Babatunde Ajayi, among other dignitaries.
Responding to the allegation by the church minister, Solomon Kuponu, that the decision could cause confusion among the electorate and a breach of peace, Mr Amosun said, “I won’t take our people for granted and it is for us not to have violence in the state and to continue to live together in peace, that all of us in All Progressives Congress, in Ogun State, took the decision.
“It is rather unfortunate that the people fighting us right and left, do not know what we have all agreed, since two years ago, that in the spirit of fairness, justice, equity and peace in Ogun, let us now look at our brothers from Ogun West Senatorial district.”
According to him, in the 43 years of existence of the state, nobody from the area has governed the state.
Mr Amosun said rather than work towards anarchy in the state, as he is being accused, he has been relentlessly ensuring peace in the state.
“If there is one thing I thank God Almighty for, it is the security and peaceful coexistence that we now enjoy in the state. I don’t know of any time, particularly in the recent time, that we have the kind of peace that we now enjoy in the state and for us not to now bring back the past days of violence.
“I can say it openly here that before we came on board, even in Ogun East Senatorial District here, banks cannot open before, due to insecurity. When we have eight out of every 10 people saying we have done well, that is the tonic that keeps us going.”
The APM and the APC gubernatorial candidates have found themselves with strange and fortuitous godfather backers from opposing parties. The other frontline candidate of the PDP appears to be the only one without a strong backer, either from his own party that has disowned him, or from any other party.
PDP’s Buruji Kashamu is his own strongman and godfather.




