Abiodun condemns Daniel’s interview on support for Tinubu
Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state and the party’s lawmaker representing Ogun East in the Senate, Gbenga Daniel, have traded words over who or not supported the aspiration of President Bola Tinubu during the party’s presidential primary held last year.
Daniel, in a recent media interview, had alleged that Abiodun was still at loggerheads with him for supporting Tinubu during the APC presidential primary among other insinuations against the incumbent.
However, the party, in a statement by its Assistant Publicity Secretary, Olusola Ogunsanya, berated Daniel, describing his comment in the interview as “drama of absurdity and cocktails of lies.”
The party said that Daniel’s interview was an embodiment of falsehood and blatant lies.
“At no time did Senator Daniel make a definite position to support the President. The former governor of Ogun State is rather playing a double standard,” the statement stated.
The party also accused the Ogun East Senator of supporting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidates during the last general elections in Ogun State.
“Daniel fraternised all through the electioneering period with the PDP’s gubernatorial candidate, Ladi Adebutu, at the expense of APC,” the party alleged.
The party also claimed that it was Abiodun that came to the support of Senator Daniel when the former governor was heading towards political oblivion.
It said: “Senator Daniel had displayed an act of ingratitude by his action and the unwarranted interview.”
The APC said a response to Daniel’s interview would not have been necessary, considering the power and passion of the media, which goes beyond the state and for the benefit of those in the Diaspora, but decided to set the records straight and place Daniel where he belongs.
It said it was laughable to hear Daniel talking about his comradeship in the progressive fold and claiming that Abiodun was not part of the fold between 1998 and 1999 “when everyone is aware of how Daniel with the PDP dislodged a progressive party in Ogun in 2003 and became governor on the platform of PDP.”
It said: “There is no record of Daniel’s role in Tinubu’s emergence as governor in Lagos State in 1999 but contested the 2003 gubernatorial election under the PDP and not Alliance for Democracy (AD). So, what structure was he talking about? He ruled for eight years as a PDP governor before Ibikunle Amosun dislodged him and declared him persona non grata in the state.”
The party also said Daniel is not part of Ogun State’s delegates to the 2022 National Convention of APC. It said the former governor could not therefore claimed to have played any role in the emergence of Tinubu as the APC’s president candidate.
“To put it succinctly, Governor Abiodun, being a genuine leader and a progressive never worked against APC. And to give credence to the governor’s unflinching commitment and loyalty to the party, as soon as Tinubu emerged the presidential candidate of the APC, the governor immediately deployed all his political machineries and structures to support Mr. President and won the state for the party by a wide margin.
