The representative of Ogun East Senatorial District, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, has offered reasons why he left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Eagle Online recalls he left the PDP for the APC in February 2021 when he was received in his Sagamu, Ogun State home.
Several governors of the ruling party were at the ceremony to receive Daniel, who served as the Ogun State governor between 2003 and 2011.
The Eagle Online also recalls he resigned from the PDP and quit partisan politics in March 2019.
Offering reasons why he left the PDP for the APC in an interview with select Editors ahead of his 70th birthday, Daniel said the circumstances of his bid for the Ogun State governorship led him to the PDP then.
He said he has always been a member of Afenifere and the Alliance for Democracy before his foray into the PDP as the then Governor, who was seeking reelection, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, was in the defunct AD.
Daniel said: “I did not jump from the PDP.
“I have already been part of the progressives.
“I was part of the Afenifere/AD.
“I saw the need to develop Ogun, but the AD/Afenifere was not in a position to offer me the opportunity to serve.
“The road was closed.
“We remained in Afenifere as members of PDP.
“Chief Bola Ige wrote the constitution and manifestos.
“I vied for the PDP national chairman.
“They said if I became chairman, I would hand over the party to Jagaban (Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu).
“I had to step down without a fight.
“When I was in the PDP, (former President Olusegun) Obasanjo would always refer to me as Asiwaju’s friend.”
Daniel was also not allowed by the PDP to have a say in the choice of his successor in 2011.
By the time the 2019 elections approached, the dynamics of the politics in the PDP had alienated several key figures therein.
This led to his dumping the party.
He said: “In Ogun, the party gave the ticket to Ladi Adebutu, the court gave it to (Buruji) Kashamu.
“Asiwaju asked me to support Dapo (Abiodun) for governor.
“After that, our people came to me to join APC.
“I knew Asiwaju wanted to run.”
