NWC Quashes Gbenga Daniel’s Purported Suspension, Says Ex-Governor Remains Full APC Member
ABEOKUTA – The end may have come to the purported suspension of former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel by the State chapter of APC, as the National Working Committee of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that the Senator representing Ogun East, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, remains a bonafide member of the party.
The National Secretary of APC, Senator Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru, said this in a statement responding to the purported suspension of the former Governor by the state chapter of the party.
In August, the State leadership of the APC reportedly suspended Daniel alongside another party member, Kunle Folarin, over alleged anti-party activities.
Last week, there were reports that Daniel’s ‘suspension’ had been affirmed by the leadership of the ruling APC.
The alleged suspension, may not be unconnected to the battle for the Ogun East Senatorial ticket of APC between Daniel and Governor Dapo Abiodun.
Daniel’s loyalists from all the nine Local Government Areas of Ogun East had dismissed the purported suspension at a press conference held last week Tuesday at Daniel’s Asoludero Court residence in Sagamu.
Responding to questions from newsmen, Remmy Hazzan, who was Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly, gave the background to the rivalry between Daniel and Abiodun.
He said the governor, who has been eyeing the Ogun East seat in 2027, never wanted Daniel to secure the ticket in 2023, fearing it would be hard to retrieve the same from the current Senator ahead of the next election.
“What the governor wants is who can be his placeholder for the Senate that he wants in 2027, and he sensed that in 2023, such in the hands of OGD would be a difficult trap, and so, he never wanted OGD. He didn’t pretend that he didn’t want him. At the end of the day, OGD got the ticket, and he never hid his contempt, hatred for the fact that that happened,” Hazzan, who served in Abiodun’s first term, said.
He said the governor, while trying to vent his anger on Daniel, “has been approaching the whole process with what I will call the strategy of killing the mosquito with the sledgehammer.”
He said, “What he (Abiodun) has done so far are efforts to discredit the man OGD, but each step he takes, he fails. We know he will try more, we just want the world to know what is going on.
“But we want to promise him that he would try more, but he would fail more.”
Responding to the purported suspension in a letter dated November, 17, 2025 and addressed to the State Chairman of APC, the NWC said it is yet to deliberate on the matter as provided in Articles 21.3(d & e)of the party constitution.
“Consequent upon this, you are hereby requested to allow the National Working Committee to investigate the matter and take informed decision on the suspension before issuing any further public correspondence on this matter, until then, Sen. Otunba Olugbenga Daniel remains a bona fide member of the party,” Basiru said in the letter.
