A political storm is gathering in Ogun East Senatorial District ahead of the All Progressives Congress direct senatorial primary scheduled for Monday, May 18, 2026. Concerned members of the party across the nine local government areas that make up the district have raised a red alert, alleging a coordinated campaign of harassment, intimidation and voter suppression targeting supporters of Senator Otunba Gbenga Daniel, the incumbent senator and the man standing between Governor Dapo Abiodun and the senatorial seat Abiodun has set his sights on following his constitutionally mandated exit from Government House.
The alarm was sounded in a formal petition addressed to Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, the National Chairman of the APC, dated May 13, 2026, just five days before the exercise, and simultaneously directed to the Inspector General of Police, the Director-General of the Department of State Services, and the Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. The signatories, who identified themselves as concerned APC members in Ogun East Senatorial District, stopped short of naming individual actors but drew a direct line to the state party structure loyal to Governor Abiodun.
“Credible reports across the nine Local Government Areas indicate that perceived followers and loyalists of Otunba Gbenga Daniel are being harassed, intimidated and deliberately prevented from attending party meetings at Ward levels by some party executives allegedly acting on the directives from the State structure loyal to Prince Dapo Abiodun,” the petition stated.
Threats, Thugs and a Primary Under Siege
Beyond the harassment at ward meetings, the petitioners raised a graver concern: direct threats allegedly being issued to bonafide registered party members, warning them against exercising their voting rights during the primary. The language in the petition was stark and unambiguous, what was being described was not garden-variety political pressure but what the signatories characterised as a deliberate, organised effort to hollow out the democratic process from the inside.
More alarming still, the petition disclosed intelligence reports pointing to active plans to mobilise and deploy thugs to designated voting points across the senatorial district on the day of the primary, with the explicit purpose of intimidating members and suppressing participation.
“Such acts, if unchecked, may provoke violence, voter victimisation and a breakdown of law and order capable of staining the image and integrity of the APC,” the petition warned, invoking the familiar Nigerian maxim of prevention over cure: “As a stitch in time saves nine, urgent intervention is necessary to preserve peace, fairness and public confidence in the electoral process.”
The Stakes: Abiodun vs Daniel in the Battle for Ogun East
The primary at stake is not a routine intraparty contest. Governor Abiodun, whose second and final term ends in 2027, has openly positioned himself to move from Government House to the Senate, targeting the Ogun East seat currently occupied by Daniel, a former two-term governor himself, and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Navy in the 10th National Assembly.
Daniel, who has spent barely two years in the Senate but has racked up a record that includes a naval base under construction at Abigi in Ogun Waterside, 17 sponsored bills, 3 motions, eye care and surgeries for 4,000 beneficiaries, and federal infrastructure projects spread across the district, has made clear he is seeking a second term and has shown no inclination to make way for his successor as governor.
The contest has grown increasingly bitter in recent weeks, with Daniel publicly accusing Abiodun of delivering little to Ijebu land despite what he described as unprecedented revenue inflows into Ogun State, contrasting the N330 billion his own two-term administration had access to against what he called the N1.6 trillion Ogun State now receives annually under President Tinubu.
Abiodun’s camp has responded by mobilising state structures, reportedly coordinating endorsements from local government chairmen, ward executives and party commissioners, and, as the petition appears to confirm, deploying pressure at the grassroots level to clear the field.
A Call to Abuja, the Police and the Security Services
The petition’s authors directed their appeal simultaneously upward and sideward, to the national leadership of the party and to the security architecture of the Nigerian state. On the party side, they called on Prof. Yilwatda to urgently direct Ogun State APC Chairman Chief Yemi Sanusi, alongside state, local government and ward executives, to stand down from the alleged intimidation campaign.
On the security side, they called on the IGP, the DSS and NSCDC to immediately investigate the claims and deploy robust monitoring across all 103 wards of Ogun East Senatorial District before, during and after the primary, ensuring, in their words, that “no innocent citizen or party member is harassed, intimidated, disenfranchised or subjected to violence or bloodshed.”
The petition also called for the deployment of what it described as “unbiased men of proven integrity” to oversee and conduct the primary, a phrasing that implied concern not just about external thuggery but about the neutrality of those in charge of the exercise itself.
“Mr. Chairman Sir, history and posterity will remember whatever steps you take at this critical moment,” the petitioners wrote. “The integrity, dignity and democratic reputation of APC as the ruling party must not be sacrificed on the altar of desperation, intimidation and abuse of power.”
103 Wards, One Question
What happens across the 103 wards of Ogun East on May 18 will determine not just which politician holds a Senate seat but whether the APC’s internal democracy retains any meaning at the grassroots level in one of Nigeria’s most politically competitive senatorial districts.
For Daniel’s supporters, the petition is also a pre-emptive paper trail, a documented record, lodged with the national party leadership and security agencies before the vote, that will be impossible to ignore if the day turns violent or the results are manufactured. For Abiodun’s camp, it is a political headache they would have preferred not to manage in public, five days before the primary.
Neither the Ogun State APC nor the state government had responded to the allegations as of the time of filing this report.
Apples Bite International Magazine will be monitoring developments ahead of and during the May 18 primary across Ogun East.
Madukwe B. Nwabuisi is an accomplished journalist renown for his fearless reporting style and extensive expertise in the field. He is an investigative journalist, who has established himself as a kamikaze reporter.
