Re: How Tunde Oladunjoye Indicts Gov. Abiodun, Chief Osoba on Anti-Tinubu Charge (Series 1)
1. Our attention has just been drawn to a news item credited to one (not) Special Assistant to Governor Dapo Abiodun, pretending to be writing for, and on behalf of our great party, the All Progressive Congress (APC).
2. We were inundated with several calls by many well-meaning Nigerians about the so-called write up, which was shared on several WhatsApp platforms since Sunday 19th of May, 2024, but it did not really catch our fancy as something that we needed to respond to, especially because social media platforms have become the play turf to all kinds of nitwits and idle hands like the writer. Moreso because one cannot deny a weeping child the rights to his play toy if that will be the only thing that will keep it happy and quiet. Hence, our initial reaction was to ignore the posts.
3. However, we woke up to read the same write ups as news items in some very credible news media and the headlines were quite concerning. Most of those who published ascribed the social media post of an individual as the credible “voice” of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). We hold our party in the highest esteem to know that the view of just an individual could not automatically translate to the stand of a whole party. Was the write up released as an official statement on the letterhead of the party and distributed to the media in that format? Certainly not.
4. Even if these were to be so, it must have been done illegally because at no point did the Party Executive sit down to authorise such reckless statements on an event that has practically nothing to do with our great party, and also against a high-ranking member and elder statesman of our party. A sitting Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who is flying the flag of the APC at the National Assembly.
5. Every inquiry made to the leadership of the party in the state returned negative, confirming our fears that meddlesome interloper has no authority of the party excos, and of its leadership to release an official Statement on behalf of the party on this matter. Our great party is more organised and disciplined than the way some uncouth characters seek to portray it.
6. It must be reiterated that every Nigerian, including even party members, have rights to their personal opinions and they could express that in whatever form they like because these rights are enshrined in our constitution and protected by our Laws. But elevating such opinions to such a high pedestal as the opinion of the All Progressives Congress is insubordination and impersonation of the Office of the Publicity Secretary of the Party. There sure is a clear and distinct persona between a political appendage and the Office of the Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress in Ogun State.
7. In exercising our right of reply, the observing public is invited to note the personality of the enfant terrible casting aspersions on a respected leader like His Excellency, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and also indicting the Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun as well as our revered leader and former Governor, Akinrogun Segun Osoba as having worked against our President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR during the last presidential election. This character was introduced to Governor Daniel in 2006 as someone who needed assistance and to establish a political base. He committed himself to writing several beautiful features in praise of the then serving Governor to endear himself to the favour for which he desperately needed. In response, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, then as Governor of Ogun State, directed the Special Adviser on Rural Development to release some Graders to him frequently to go and fix some rural roads in the Ijebu East Local Government. Diesel fuels for the Graders were provided by the Governor, with some other personal logistics support for upkeep. This was done to endear this ungrateful politician to the people in the local government so that they can support him to win the subsequent Chairmanship election.
8. Having been helped to become an Executive Chairman even amidst hostile protest by leaders in his domain, this cantankerous character mismanaged a local crisis in his Ijebu East Local Government council area, leading to the gruesome murder of an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Omolodun in Ijebu Ife. He had to be quickly removed to douse flaying tension and prevent reprisals which could have thrown the whole community into the massacre of the Odi nature. As Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel urgently set up a Fact Finding and Truce Committee with various pacifications to the Nigerian Police Force. The matter became rested.
9. This is the genesis of the years long hateful attack he has been exhibiting against his benefactor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel. Recall that in the intra-party PDP crises of the period, it was convenient for Tunde Oladunjoye to align with the camp of late Senator Buruji Kashamu. In that relationship, on a single day, the late Senator Kashamu bought fifteen bundles of clothes, brought in his taylor to kit him because, according to him, he wanted Tunde “to look like human” which underscores the parlous state of the persona behind the name, Oladunjoye. Late Kasamu also added a Prado Jeep for Tunde just to make him appear human. No sooner than the 2011 Governorship election was won and lost that Oladunjoye shifted base to Senator Ibikunle Amosun’s camp, betraying all that Senator Kashamu represented in his life and badmouthing his new benefactor just as he did with OGD.
10. Senator Amosun, as Governor of Ogun State compensated Tunde with an appointment as a Member of the Board, Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), an institution founded by Otunba Gbenga Daniel. It was while serving as a member of the Board that he attempted to go back to school to acquire the higher education which he badly needed. His calculations was who is the lecturer that would dare “fail” him even if he falls short of the required academic standards when he is a member of the school Governing Council. How Oladunjoye’s story ended with Senator Ibikunle Amosun, his other benefactor, is quite open. He betrayed Amosun again.
11. Sooner than he was elected as Governor in 2019, Prince Dapo Abiodun, armed with sufficient knowledge of the character called Tunde Oladunjoye, and having lost all relevance, decided to keep him at arms length like a devil who must be dined with a long spoon. He simply made him the Chairman of the OGTV Board. At OGTV, Oladunjoye was behind the leaked flop interview where the Governor goofed several times during a prep rehearsal for a broadcast and the video went viral to the embarrassment of the Governor.
12. Staff of OGTV will not forget Oladunjoye in a hurry as he practically took over the job of the TV station’s General Manager, resuming at the station daily like an employee and turning the place into a sacrificial grove with daily incence burning.
13. That is the character that we are dealing with in the so-called Press Release purportedly ascribed to our party. As a matter of fact, information reaching us reveal that some party men especially those in Ijebu East LG are already digging up on Tunde’s stewardship as Chairman of OGTV in the last four years. Preliminary report received indicate gross misappropriation against the state and it may be a matter of time before the investigators forward his dossier to the party leadership and security agencies. It is getting clearer that most of Governor Abiodun’s close aides allegedly perpetrate major misdemeanours and crimes against the state while hiding under the cover of their proximity to the governor. This is apparently why the rating of the government keeps dropping in the eyes of the public, party members inclusive.
14. We needed to lay this background so that the unsuspecting public may be abreast of the despicable character behind the name Tunde Oladunjoye, a supposed image maker who ironically is our great party’s image breaker. It is more worrisome that someone who claims to be speaking on behalf of the party read through the interview of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, saw the avalanche of commendations, praises, well-thought-out advice and maturely articulated roadmap for the administration but choose to sidestep these remarks and embark on shadow chasing.
15. Now to the real issue. At no time in the interview granted by Otunba Gbenga Daniel did he engage in name-calling of any sort. In fact, the Senator never for once expressed any ill feeling on the Ogun Agro-Cargo Airport being constructed by the Dapo Abiodun Administration. The full excerpts of the interview (as against the misconception being bandied about by mischief makers) was published by The Nation Newspaper on Saturday, May 18, 2024. Interested members of the public are encouraged to read the whole interview.
16. It is factual to say the real intendment of that interview is to review and highlight the successes of the Bola Tinubu administration ahead of its one year anniversary. The Senator also sought to clarify some misconceptions that have been simmering for some time and to restate several efforts and initiatives by him and his team to realise the Tinubu presidency. Instructively, all the statements made by Otunba Gbenga Daniel during the interview are factual and verifiable.
17. How Oladunjoye ended up appropriating nameless assertions to his boss and respected former governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba, remains a mystery and smacks of wicked chicanery and the desperation to pull down and silence Gbenga Daniel, albeit repeatedly unsuccessful.
18. Meanwhile, this is not the first time Oladunjoye is abusing his position as the spokesperson of the party to settle personal scores unabated. It is, therefore, right to state that his actions have the support of those who attacked the candidacy of President Tinubu in 2023 and currently doing everything possible to cut down all those who they feel disobeyed the edict to fight the aspiration of Tinubu in 2023. Our advice to this crop of people is to come to the reality that President Tinubu has emerged victorious and whatever secret ills they have against him should be laid to rest. The President is the leader of the party from top to bottom, and any secret plan to alienate state structure in preparation for a fictional battle in 2027 will be met with the full opposition by true-born Afeniferes.
Signed:
Comrade Ismail Olawale
Publicity Secretary,
Gateway Movement
