₦airaland Forum

Dapo Abiodun: The Governor Who Lost His Own Ward Wants Ogun East’s Senate Seat, Good Luck With That By Seunmanuel Faleye

There is a particular audacity in a governor who cannot win his own ward presenting himself as a senatorial candidate. That is exactly where Dapo Abiodun stands heading into 2027, and the numbers do not lie.

In the 2023 gubernatorial election, at the peak of his incumbency advantage, Abiodun lost his own ward. Not in a close contest. Decisively. A sitting governor, with the full machinery of state at his disposal, could not deliver the handful of polling units where his neighbours vote. That is not a political footnote. It is a verdict delivered by the very people who know him best.

Ogun East is not a district you purchase with party structure alone. Its Ijebu, Remo, and Yewa constituencies are politically sophisticated, historically independent, and brutally unforgiving of candidates who cannot demonstrate genuine grassroots loyalty. Abiodun has never secured a direct win in this district. Not once. That absence is not an oversight in his political biography. It is the defining fact of it.

The primary battle is where his ambition faces its first wall. Delegate networks in Ogun East respond to zone loyalty, and the loyalty architecture here was largely built, brick by brick, ward by ward, by Otunba Gbenga Daniel across two terms and decades of political investment in the corridor. An APC chieftain in Ijebu-Ode, who spoke to this reporter on the condition of anonymity, was blunt in his assessment.

"Abiodun's only real chance at a party ticket would have been through indirect primary," the chieftain said. "That was his strongest play. He had made his loyalists swear oaths, literal oaths, that they would not betray him at the delegate level. He was banking on that structure to carry him through a process the general membership would never endorse. But even that door is narrowing. People are tired. The same loyalists who swore those oaths are quietly asking what they received in return."

It is a damning portrait of a political operation held together not by conviction but by coercion and calculation. The moment direct primary becomes the operative mode, or the moment those oath-bound loyalists weigh personal survival against gubernatorial favour, Abiodun's senatorial architecture collapses.

His district problem deepens when mapped against the ground reality of Ogun East's diverse political character. The Ijebu axis remembers the Gateway Games scandal, the deliberate exclusion of the Dipo Dina Stadium, and six years of infrastructure promises that favoured other zones. The Remo bloc has its own grievances. A candidate seeking to consolidate a senatorial district must speak to all of it. Abiodun has spent his governorship doing the opposite, governing by exclusion and expecting loyalty in return.

Then comes the tribunal time bomb that no spin doctor can defuse. Abiodun's INEC declarations carry documented discrepancies in assets and personal credentials, precisely the grounds opposition lawyers spend election cycles preparing for. A victory at the polls, should one materialise, would trigger immediate legal challenge from a well-resourced first runner-up armed with a portfolio of inconsistencies. The courts have nullified stronger mandates on thinner grounds.

Compounding the legal exposure is the unresolved shadow of a 1986 credit card fraud allegation that has followed Abiodun through successive electoral cycles without satisfactory public resolution. In a tribunal environment where character evidence is admissible and opposition counsel is motivated, that allegation is not ancient history. It is ammunition.

The arithmetic of APC's strategic interests in Ogun East should give the party's leadership serious pause. The district is not a guaranteed APC holding. It is contested territory that requires a candidate capable of expansion, not one managing contraction. Fielding Abiodun, electorally unproven in the zone, legally encumbered, and carrying the accumulated resentments of a constituency that feels deliberately sidelined, is not a political calculation. It is a gamble the party cannot afford to lose.

"The party faithful in this zone are already talking," the chieftain added. "Nobody wants to say it loudly yet, but everyone is thinking the same thing: there are stronger options. Options without the baggage. Options that can actually win."

Ogun East has a federal voice worth protecting. That voice deserves a candidate whose electoral record inspires confidence, whose legal standing is clean, and whose relationship with the district's people is built on something more durable than sworn oaths and suppressed dissent.

Dapo Abiodun's 2027 senatorial ambition is not a political project. It is a liability, for the candidate, for the party, and for the people of Ogun East who deserve genuine representation, not the inheritance of a governor's unfinished political business.

Source: https://applesbite.com/dapo-abiodun-the-governor-who-lost-his-own-ward-wants-ogun-easts-senate-seat-good-luck-with-that/

Tinubu lost his state Lagos, does that disqualify him from contesting for the presidency?

Just asking

Heavy blow on Mr wanna be

Hmm!! True talk, grass root is very key than rigging

What your business Atiku lost his own state to atiku he is still contesting, okowa lost his own state to obi he is still contesting free the governor jare

What about a president that lost his original and adopted states still gunning for second term?

tctrills:
Tinubu lost his state Lagos, does that disqualify him from contesting for the presidency?

Just asking

This comparison is stupid.

People's are very wicked, why is the same effort and publicity given to politics not given to the killing of our people?

Judgement is not far from this country, her people, leaders and those supporting politicians in respective of their political parties. Just yesterday, Akure was under attack.

Gbenga Daniel go to another party and contest if you have the structure

Stop crying with media rhetorics

This is a silly write up. I’ll tell you why

This statement: A sitting governor, with the full machinery of state at his disposal, could not deliver the handful of polling units where his neighbours vote

…Exposes the thinking of the writer - as a sitting governor, you’re allowed to abuse political power to achieve political gains


I really don’t care who wins, after all they’re chasing their political ambitions which is a game for them. We have nothing to befit, neither do their direct constituents.

What are both if them really going there to do?

After losing his own ward, he still won the gubernatorial. That his own ward is not the only ward in his senatorial, so he has hope...

According to Jesus Christ in the Bible "A Prophet is not valued in his hometown"
Know this truth and have peace of mind.

Make una use your VOTE CAST HIM OUT

Dapo does not deserve any public position ever again.

Don't worry, 2027 will be a tsunami

tctrills:
Tinubu lost his state Lagos, does that disqualify him from contesting for the presidency?

Just asking

It favours no one and do not favour him too

tctrills:
Tinubu lost his state Lagos, does that disqualify him from contesting for the presidency?

Just asking

He wasn't a sitting president at that time. What the guy is saying is Dapo lost in his ward even as a sitting(incumbent) governor. Tinubu was not incumbent when he lost in Lagos.

tctrills:
Tinubu lost his state Lagos, does that disqualify him from contesting for the presidency?

Just asking

You mean you have comprehension trauma or is it the same ⁉️
Tinubu still pick 25% of the States Votes including the Overall Votes,but here you are comparing the two!
You should learn to be factual,not just to entertain.
Eleyi should know he a nonstarter and he should learn to just give peace a Chance in Ogun State !
• Ogun wants Performance Cards ♦️ ♠️ -with Visible Evidence -that we can feel and touch - including ROADS 🛣️ in most of the Local and Rural Areas,But Nothing!
• Light 🚨🕯️, even Solar Lights on Our Streets - Babu!
• Health Care Centers - to care for the Masses Needs - None Available,
• Housing Estates - for the People, nothing to bank on!
• Youths Employments Opportunities and Job Creations - ?
• Where Are the Legacies - for the YOUTHS AND THE MASSES in Ogun 🥵

apc dont need people votes
before we can win elections
even if is one person that vote for us
we shall sure win

tctrills:
Tinubu lost his state Lagos, does that disqualify him from contesting for the presidency?

Just asking

nope, I wonder o.

Victory is to the one with the highest number of votes, that's the most important factor. #fact

He lost his own ward but he won the governorship election, not once but twice... Abeg, talk another thing jare

erad:
This comparison is stupid.

How so? Valid question to ask. Cos the author of the original post is a hatchet man saying a politician lost his immediate jurisdiction. If that nonsense assertion holds for Eleyi, then it should hold for Jaga

airsaylongcome:
How so? Valid question to ask. Cos the author of the original post is a hatchet man saying a politician lost his immediate jurisdiction. If that nonsense assertion holds for Eleyi, then it should hold for Jaga

Lemme see how I can illustrate it.

You live in an apartment building and an election for building head is conducted. Your roommates didn't vote for you but you still won because you could consolidate with votes from other apartments. Now later you want to contest for your apartment head where only your roommates will be voting, what's the likelihood of you winning?

Tinubu has no need for Lagos only votes, Abiodun on the other hand now needs his ward votes the most. So comparing both is being mischievous.

Denying Awujale stool in ljebu Ode will also add to his predicament because the entire ljebu people will not vote for him.
.

Tenses:
What about a president that lost his original and adopted states still gunning for second term?

Is this why he is using Amupitan’s INEC and Wike’s courts to destroy credible opposition to his reelection and 3rd term agenda for life president, something Obasanjo failed to achieve in 2007

iwaeda:
Wike Boasts Of Helping APC Use Judiciary To Kill Osun LG Funds Case, Warns Party Leaders Against Ingratitude

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has openly boasted that he assisted certain elements within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in deploying the judiciary to frustrate the Osun State local government allocation lawsuit.

In a video now circulating widely on social media and obtained by SaharaReporters, Wike made the claim while addressing a crowd in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The former Rivers governor accused the APC National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, of benefitting from judicial actions against the Osun State Government without knowing those who did the work behind the scenes.

The suit in question led to the withholding of local government funds in Osun State, a development widely seen as targeting the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke as opposition in the state.

Wike, who spoke angrily, suggested that the court action supporting the APC’s position against the Osun government did not happen by chance, boasting that powerful political forces worked quietly to ensure the outcome.

“Don’t take our support for Mr President for granted,” Wike warned, in an apparent message to APC leaders defending Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara. “You have to be careful about the statements you make. You have to be very careful.”

He accused Basiru of political ingratitude, claiming the APC was enjoying in Osun State without understanding who engineered their advantage.

“Today, you are enjoying in Osun. You don’t know those who did the work,” Wike said. “You are opening your mouth to talk about Rivers State.”

https://saharareporters.com/2026/01/08/wike-boasts-helping-apc-use-judiciary-kill-osun-lg-funds-case-warns-party-leaders

Minister Wike has warned the National Secretary of the APC, Ajibola Basiru to stay clear of Rivers State.
Lol 😆 https://t.co/sNKjJfb8qn pic.twitter.com/E9SgSwASil

— Emma ik Umeh (Tcee )🇳🇬 (@emmaikumeh) January 5, 2026

michoim:
After losing his own ward, he still won the gubernatorial. That his own ward is not the only ward in his senatorial, so he has hope...

Remember ljebu people he denied Awujale stool.
.

tctrills:
Tinubu lost his state Lagos, does that disqualify him from contesting for the presidency?

Just asking

Lost the state to a brazen massive rigging by obidients whilst APC went to sleep.
We have everything documented.
A RUDE shock awaits you in 2027.

erad:
This comparison is stupid.

How is it stupid
A ward is to a constituency what a state is to the federation

erad:
Lemme see how I can illustrate it.

You live in an apartment building and an election for building head is conducted. Your roommates didn't vote for you but you still won because you could consolidate with votes from other apartments. Now later you want to contest for your apartment head where only your roommates will be voting, what's the likelihood of you winning?

Tinubu has no need for Lagos only votes, Abiodun on the other hand now needs his ward votes the most. So comparing both is being mischievous.

So a single ward makes a senatorial district

See who is calling someone stupid

He needs the ward votes now more than in gov'ship elections, truly the ward is more significant now, but then senatorial district as a whole overrides just a single ward

Kukutente23:
So a single ward makes a senatorial district

See who is calling someone stupid