Leaders of the BATOGD Movement on Thursday accused loyalists of Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun of orchestrating what they described as a fraudulent party (APC) caucus aimed at endorsing a preferred senatorial aspirant, while also alleging a coordinated police siege on the Ijebu-Ode residence of former governor and serving senator, Gbenga Daniel.
Addressing journalists in Sagamu, within Ogun East Senatorial District, the group claimed that Monday’s gathering, presented as a stakeholders’ caucus meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was in reality a staged endorsement event lacking legitimacy.
According to the movement, many attendees at the meeting were not qualified members of a formal senatorial caucus. “It was only upon arrival that many discovered that more than half of the people in the hall were not even qualified to attend a Senatorial Caucus meeting,” the group alleged.
The statement further claimed that several members of the movement who arrived with valid invitations were denied entry and informed that the event was exclusively for supporters of the governor. Senator Daniel himself was reportedly among those turned away from the venue.
The group also raised concerns over what it described as an excessive deployment of security personnel around Daniel’s residence in Ijebu-Ode on Wednesday, April 22. It alleged that armored vehicles and hundreds of officers of the Nigeria Police Force were stationed in the area.
According to the movement, preliminary findings suggested that the Ijebu-Ode Local Government Chairman allegedly triggered the deployment by providing false intelligence to security authorities, claiming that a political meeting was being held at the senator’s residence.
“We consider this a gross abuse of executive powers,” the statement said, likening the development to tactics associated with military-era repression.
The BATOGD Movement, which has been conducting a Community Assessment and Review Tour across the nine local government areas of Ogun East since September 2025, clarified that the Ijebu-Ode leg of the tour had already been postponed due to logistical reasons. It therefore described the reported security presence as unnecessary and unjustified.
The group noted that previous stops of the tour, including Sagamu, Ijebu East, Ijebu North East, Ikenne, Odogbolu, and Ogun Waterside, had been completed without incident, adding that the initiative would continue as scheduled.
In addition, the movement referenced the controversial demolition of DATKEM Plaza in Ijebu-Ode on September 10, 2023, linking the incident to the same local government leadership it accused of instigating the recent police deployment. The property was said to belong to Yeye Olufunke Daniel, wife of the senator.
On broader political alignments, the group reaffirmed support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the APC’s consensus presidential candidate for 2027. It also endorsed Senator Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, as its preferred consensus gubernatorial candidate for Ogun State.
While thanking the Inspector General of Police for what it described as timely intervention to restore calm, the movement urged all security agencies to maintain neutrality and resist being used for political purposes.
Observers note that the unfolding developments signal deepening divisions within the Ogun State chapter of the APC, raising concerns about party unity ahead of future electoral contests.
By Folake Sokoya
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