Political tension is brewing in Ogun State ahead of the 2027 elections, as former governor of the state, Gbenga Daniel, and the incumbent governor, Dapo Abiodun, get locked in a war of words over quit and demolition notices on property belonging to the former in Sagamu.
Daniel, a serving senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District, had at the weekend, accused Abiodun of abusing power by attempting to demolish his private residence, Asoludero Court and Conference Hotels Limited in Sagamu, as well as its annex, following the issuance of the quit and demolition notices delivered on Thursday, August 8, 2025.
In a statement by his media aide, Steve Oliyide, the former governor said that the governor was hiding behind a new law to fight a political opponent. He said that the Abiodun-led administration’s fresh threat notices to demolish his property were another way of “weaponising the state’s power to settle political scores and dragging Ogun into an era where the rule of law is optional”.
However, Abiodun, while reacting, accused Daniel of framing the notices with the intention of fomenting trouble and causing chaos, insisting that nobody is above the law, as well as describing Daniel’s utterances as barefaced lies, which were bad and very far from the actual truth.
Abiodun, in a statement through his Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Kayode Akinmade, urged Daniel to obey the law of the state. He dismissed the claims by the former governor that he was abusing the power to persecute his political opponent, insisting that Daniel should stop crying foul on quit and demolition notices on his reference property, as “Senator Gbenga Daniel is not bigger than Ogun State”.
Abiodun accused the former governor of distorting facts by using “a familiar pattern” on property demolition to ascribe a political motive with the aim of using underhand tactics to achieve their goals, asking Daniel to present his planning permit and land title to the relevant government agency’s office for verification.
MEANWHILE, the Centre for Policy Intervention in Africa (CEPIA) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to prevail on the Ogun State government to suspend any demolition actions on Daniel’s property pending full judicial review and legal clarification.
In a statement signed by its Director of Publicity, Ismail Olawale, yesterday, the group also urged the President to direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to investigate the legality and constitutional implications of the demolition threats.
CEPIA said that the demolition notices were issued simultaneously and threateningly, without adherence to due process, and also based on the Ogun State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law No. 61 of 2022 — a law that was enacted after the structures were fully built and operational.
The group added that while Daniel’s Asoludero Court was built in 2004, the Conference Hotel in Sagamu was built in 2013, and the hotel annexe was built in 2015.
It, therefore, noted that the campaign of intimidation and property destruction has every appearance of a deliberate and sustained political witch-hunt against a sitting senator and perceived political rival.
