₦airaland Forum

Ogun East Ticket: How Dapo Abiodun Is Buying, Threatening And Manipulating His Way To A Senatorial Showdown By Wale Onifade


The envelopes are already packed.

Governor Dapo Abiodun has ordered financial inducement packages for no fewer than 400 persons, each envelope calibrated to the recipient’s political weight, to be distributed at the Adeola Odutola Event Hall in Ijebu Ode. The occasion is dressed as a stakeholders’ endorsement meeting. The substance is a cash-and-carry operation designed to manufacture grassroots consent for a predetermined outcome in the Ogun East Senatorial District.

It is the clearest possible signal that a governor approaching the end of his tenure has decided to use the machinery of office to guarantee his own next political address-the Ogun East seat in the Red Chamber, while simultaneously handpicking loyalists to occupy every other National Assembly slot in the district.

The Ogun East situation is explosive precisely because Abiodun’s personal senatorial ambition puts him on a direct collision course with President Bola Tinubu. Multiple party sources confirm that the governor has been aggressively pushing for endorsement as the APC’s Ogun East senatorial candidate, while simultaneously moving to install handpicked loyalists across the district’s House of Representatives tickets, effectively attempting to own the entire Ogun East National Assembly delegation before a single primary vote is cast.

“He is calling Aso Rock’s bluff,” one senior party figure said. “He believes that if he creates facts on the ground fast enough, the President will have no choice but to accept whoever emerges — including himself.”

The Presidency has not commented publicly. But party insiders say the friction is real, and the consequences for Abiodun’s standing at the federal level could be severe.

Personal ambition, it turns out, is a powerful motivator for misconduct. Beyond the envelopes, Abiodun is running a parallel operation built on raw intimidation.

Party leaders across Ogun East’s local government areas — Ijebu Ode, Ijebu North, Ijebu North East, Ijebu East, Ogun Waterside, and Ikenne — have received what sources describe as barely veiled threats: endorse the governor’s senatorial bid and his chosen National Assembly candidates, or face the consequences. Those consequences range from loss of political appointments to outright state harassment.

“He is threatening people with arrests,” one party chieftain said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “He has told our leaders that if they do not fall in line, they will find out what it means to be his enemy. This is not how you build consensus. This is how you break a party.”

State government appointees from the zone have been quietly summoned and told their continued relevance depends on publicly endorsing the governor’s agenda. Public resources are being weaponised in service of one man’s post-governorship ambition.

The Adeola Odutola Hall gathering was not convened organically. It was engineered.

Sources say a large proportion of the 400 invitees are state appointees, patronage contractors, and party officials whose loyalty is to the governor, not to Ogun East. Their attendance is designed to generate photographs and video of “Ogun East leaders” endorsing Abiodun’s senatorial bid and his handpicked National Assembly candidates — content for deployment across press releases and social media.

“He is converting government appointees into political stakeholders,” one source said. “These people are not representatives of Ogun East. They are representatives of Dapo Abiodun’s payroll.”

The envelopes carry varying sums, with larger denominations reserved for names whose endorsement carries reputational weight. The disbursement has been routed through intermediaries to protect the governor’s deniability.

Authentic stakeholders in the zone are pushing back on one inescapable argument: sacrificing a ranking Senator to satisfy a governor’s personal ambition is an act of self-harm Ogun East cannot afford.

In Nigeria’s legislative structure, senatorial seniority is not symbolic. It translates directly into committee chairmanships, budget influence, federal project attraction, and institutional leverage that no incoming first-term senator — regardless of how recently he governed a state — can replicate from scratch.

“Yayi’s endorsement and the performance that followed was a direct product of ranking,” one party source said. “Committee appointments, federal roads, federal institutions — they flow differently when you have ranking. Abiodun is asking us to trade that for his personal ambition. That is not acceptable.”

The argument bites harder, given that Abiodun’s political base has always been concentrated in Ogun Central. His attempt to capture Ogun East’s entire National Assembly representation — for himself and his loyalists — is not dominance. It is a takeover. And his governorship has built precious little goodwill in the zone to justify it.

The most politically damaging charge is the most direct: that Abiodun’s induced endorsement exercise contradicts President Tinubu’s own preferences for the zone.

“What Abiodun is doing violates the President’s plan for the senatorial district,” a party leader said. “The President understands what a ranking Senator means for a zone. Abiodun is going in the opposite direction for no reason except personal ambition and control.”

The protest from genuine Ogun East leaders is being framed in the corridors where it matters, as a formal notification to Abuja that the governor has stepped outside agreed boundaries. Whether Tinubu moves to discipline that overreach or whether Abiodun’s machine manufactures enough of an outcome to render the question moot is the defining question of the Ogun East political season.

Ranking is not a luxury. It is infrastructure. No envelope changes the arithmetic: a zone that trades a ranking Senator for a term-expired governor reinventing himself as a freshman legislator, surrounded by loyalists he personally installed, will feel that choice in federal allocations, infrastructure deficits, and legislative irrelevance for years.

Abiodun may stage his endorsement show. He may convert enough appointments into applause. But Ogun East stakeholders are clear: the real verdict on who enters the Red Chamber will not be delivered in an envelope at the Adeola Odutola Hall. It will be delivered at the ballot.

This investigation is ongoing. The office of Governor Dapo Abiodun had not responded to requests for comment as of press time.

https://applesbite.com/ogun-east-ticket-how-dapo-abiodun-is-buying-threatening-and-manipulating-his-way-to-a-senatorial-showdown-by-wale-onifade/

I trust Ogun state people!

They will still vote for him!

That state has a strong affinity for incompetent politicians. That’s why they have never had a governor in last 3 decades.

Before nko you want him to sell his way? The Senate is the retirement plan of Nigerian governor

Well he doesn't build roads. What's his states money good for .... LOL.

What a fine Boy 😁😃

Ijapa meta..
where your evidence?

Why will they allow a PDP governor to do this?

This one has already started wailing

HacheNoire:
I trust Ogun state people!

They will still vote for him!

That state has a strong affinity for incompetent politicians. That’s why they have never had a governor in last 3 decades.

How are the people of Awolowo’s state different from Lagosians?

Have Lagosians had a governor in the last three decades? Or they have had looters masquerading as leaders, to increase their tax burden and grow IGR plus budget 100 times without commensurate improvements in government services and public utilities?

Lagos has had the most incompetent AND corrupt people pretending to be governors since 1999. The worst politicians.

Every one is scheming for their own personal interest..

If truly he has made the business environment conducive he resign from politics and do business

A failure wants to go and rest in the senate like his colleagues

heykims:
Ijapa meje...
where your evidence?

As how now loooool. Ogun politics drama

AnonPoet:
Ogun East Ticket: How Dapo Abiodun Is Buying, Threatening And Manipulating His Way To A Senatorial Showdown By Wale Onifade

The envelopes are already packed.


https://applesbite.com/ogun-east-ticket-how-dapo-abiodun-is-buying-threatening-and-manipulating-his-way-to-a-senatorial-showdown-by-wale-onifade/

Eleyi is simply following the same pattern of his godfather in Aso Rock.

"I know of States that have received over 500 billion Naira from the Federal Government as palliative, but I have never received anything.

I think the reason I don't get it is because I'm not in APC.

-Dauda Lawal, Zamfara State Governor pic.twitter.com/QvfR8olibA

— Arewa Source (@Arewa_Source) February 17, 2026

anonimi:
How are the people of Awolowo’s state different from Lagosians?

Have Lagosians had a governor in the last three decades? Or they have had looters masquerading as leaders, to increase their tax burden and grow IGR plus budget 100 times without commensurate improvements in government services and public utilities?

Lagos has had the most incompetent AND corrupt people pretending to be governors since 1999. The worst politicians.

I quite agree with you!

Lagosians are like MAGA!

Even when all is bad, they still be shouting “Eko o ni baje” like they still have something that is not spoilt already!

30 years and they still don’t have public water running into their homes, and you find all of them rebuking public healthcare and education in religious houses!

Talk about comfortable Mugu’s, Lagosians lead!

Na Ijapa meta, ati Kposi kekere......

😃😃😃

Eyewitness for (GWR)

heykims:
Ijapa meje...
where your evidence?

chuksjuve:
Every one is scheming for their own personal interest..

Na so o.
How else would we demonstrate that we are unevolved, shortsighted and greedy ọkanlawọns




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMWUS1W_ITc?si=IY04a55t5ZiWWEGo

If he likes make him give billions to them, he can't win that ijebu, APC will just loose out to other party.

Youths are the future of tomorrow....!!! Where're y'all? These old spent Old men are still taking y'all for granted....When will you become the leader's of tomorrow

normal normal, no former governor is suppose to be allowed into the senate.

Law makers are suppose to be special people with dignity.

Criminal don jam Criminal for Ogun politics

OGD is the man they are going for!

This is why we say do well ....if this man did well for ogun state this wont be a problem but ogun state has gone backwards since his tenure a very incompetent guy ..

Now he is aggressively asking for a senatorial seat ..ogun state has suffered o

Politicians are too selfish and greedy







Chai

HacheNoire:
I trust Ogun state people!

They will still vote for him!

That state has a strong affinity for incompetent politicians. That’s why they have never had a governor in last 3 decades.

Omo ogun state looks like a 1950s abule state very useless set of governors over the year,s such great potential wasted by the bunch of incompetent miscreants called governors

goody234:
Omo ogun state looks like a 1950s abule state very useless set of governors over the year,s such great potential wasted by the bunch of incompetent miscreants called governors

It is very sad and shameful for that state!

They have brainboxes but always governed by the worst sets of humans!

No way you can believe that state ever had a governor in last 3 decades!

From start to finish of the state is total rubbish!

If we ever develop a nuclear programme, it will definitely be the test site.

Same thing Gbenga Daniel will do if he was the Governor....I don't trust any Politicians....well I didn't read your write up

anonimi:
How are the people of Awolowo’s state different from Lagosians?

Have Lagosians had a governor in the last three decades? Or they have had looters masquerading as leaders, to increase their tax burden and grow IGR plus budget 100 times without commensurate improvements in government services and public utilities?

Lagos has had the most incompetent AND corrupt people pretending to be governors since 1999. The worst politicians.

Place Anambra next to Lagos
Then, see the differences

Ajibbbbbb:
Place Anambra next to Lagos
Then, see the differences

Why would I want to do that instead of placing atọhunrinwa Ayédèrú’s 27 years old master plan next to four years of progressive UPN governor Jakande?

27 years of Tinubu and APC increasing tax burden on people to grow IGR and budget 100 times without corresponding increase in government services and utilities.

They all learnt it from their Nadeco daddy. That's how he imposes in Lagos.

Politics is a dirty game of power, money, subterfuge and perhaps violence in this clime. Thus the governor is employing every "ordinance" in his arsenal to achieve his political objective.
If Senator Daniel is confident of his popularity with the Ijebu people then he had better decamp from the APC to contest the seat on the platform of another party!

The most clueless ever seating governor in the history of Nigeria

Roads failure
All ramifications of life failure

Only party attendance

Nonsense governor