‘Stop denigrating our omoluabi value before entire world’- Afenifere slams Ogun APC over comments on Gbenga Daniel

Akinwande Soji-Ojo

The pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has condemned a statement credited to the Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, which allegedly insulted a former governor of the state, Gbenga Daniel.

Daniel and Governor Dapo Abiodun have been at loggerheads over the outcome of the governorship poll in the state.

While Daniel who ran for Ogun East senatorial seat won the election convincingly, Abiodun narrowly won his re-election. The governor lost in Daniel’s senatorial 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.

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 primary, saying Abiodun backed former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo during the primary.

But in a swift reaction, the ruling APC in a statement signed by the Assistant Publicity Secretary, Olusola Blessed, rose in defence of Abiodun, describing Daniel as a person “who paints a picture of dishonesty both in private business and in power.”

Reacting to APC’s statement, Afenifere, in a statement issued by its Organising Secretary , Abagun Kole Omololu, and made available to newsmen in Akure on Tuesday, said Daniel, who is a chieftain of the group, had a misunderstanding with Abiodun, but the APC in Ogun State was not making efforts to reconcile the two chieftains but rather causing more division.

The group called on the two APC chieftains to settle their differences for the development of the state.

“We read with utter dismay a press statement issued by the Ogun State chapter of the APC in a reaction to an interview recently granted by Senator representing Ogun East, Otunba Gbenga Daniel.

“In this statement, Ogun APC scathingly used unprintable and untoward adjectives to describe Daniel, a former governor who served Ogun State for eight consecutive years. On the other hand, the party ardently defended the state’s incumbent governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, who recently secured re-election to serve his people and the state.

“We take grave exception to the divisive language Ogun APC used in its press statement. Even though the two illustrious sons of Ogun State may disagree on some issues, the approach of Ogun APC, as shown in its press statement, is grossly unethical and utterly unacceptable, especially in this era when our socio-cultural leaders are working behind the scenes to foster harmony and unity among all our elected officials representing us in different capacities both at state and federal levels.

“As a chapter of the ruling party, Ogun APC has the onus of ensuring peace and harmony within its ranks, rather than escalating disagreement between the two leaders, if there is any. The press statement simply suggests that Ogun APC has already taken sides rather than deploying the party’s conflict resolution mechanism and goodwill to make peace between the governor and one of his illustrious predecessors,” Omololu said.

Afenifere also frowned at the conduct of the party, stating that the APC leadership should have initiated a conflict resolution process to promote peace and harmony among members and leaders, instead of inciting them against each other.

“We hereby warn Ogun APC, its State Working Committee and its State Executive Committee to desist from causing and deepening division in the ranks of its elected officials. If the SWC lacks the capacity to promote peaceful co-existence among its elected officials statewide, it should, in the overall interests of our people, restrain from taking action that will complicate differences among the leaders,” the statement added.

Afenifere appealed to the duo to call their aides and supporters to order and “stop every action that will publicly denigrate and rubbish our Omoluabi value before the entire world.”