Former Governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel, has won the Ogun East senatorial ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 election.
Daniel polled 450 votes to defeat the incumbent Senator Lekan Mustapha, who polled 29 votes, a former Deputy Governor, Prince Segun Adesegun, who polled six votes, and Mr. Seyi Oduntan, who had 12 votes.
At the commencement of the primary held Saturday at Itoro Hall in Ijebu-Ode, the former Commissioner for Health in Ogun, Babatunde Ipaye, had announced that Senator Mustapha, had stepped down for Daniel, a claim that was debunked by the supporters of Senatorial Lekan Mustapha.
A meeting was said to have been held to broker a deal between the frontline aspirants in the district where a sharing formula was said to have been presented to the trio of Gbenga Daniel, Lekan Mustapha and Seyi Oduntan.
It was gathered that Daniel had to do a lot of politicking to get the support of the incumbent Governor Dapo Abiodun who had reservations about Daniel’s Senatorial ambition but was prevailed upon by the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona and Akarigbo of Remoland, Oba Babatunde Ajayi, who see Daniel as their son and the right choice for the Senatorial District at this time.
Recall that Former Governor and National Leader of the APC, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, had a meeting with Governor Abiodun and Gbenga Daniel a few days before the governorship primary of the APC in Ogun state.
Daniel had retired from partisan politics and resigned from the PDP in the build-up to the 2019 general elections but a few months ago announced that his teeming supporters prevailed upon him to cut short his retirement and use his experience and leadership ability for the benefit of his Senatorial District and Ogun state in general.
He later joined the APC, stressing that his followers insisted that he could not retire from politics yet.
