2027: Gbenga Daniel challenges Abiodun to live TV debate

Ogun East Senator, Gbenga Daniel has issued a public challenge to Governor Dapo Abiodun to appear on a national television programme for a live, face-to-face debate.

He declared that any refusal by the governor would be taken as an admission of defeat.

Daniel, who served as the governor of Ogun State, for two terms from May 29, 2003, to May 29, 2011, threw down the gauntlet on Thursday during an interview on TVC’s Beyond The Headlines, where he warned that Abiodun’s silence on the issues he raised would speak louder than any response.

“This is an open invitation. And between you and I, if you don’t do that, my assumption is that he ran away. It’s an open challenge,” Daniel said.

The senator asked the host to set up a joint encounter without delay.

“You will have done this programme disservice if you don’t pair us. And let’s do it quickly,” Daniel said.

The host, for his part, confirmed that the programme would extend the invitation to Abiodun, stating that a seat had been reserved for the governor and that Daniel would return for the encounter.

The challenge caps weeks of escalating tension between the two APC chieftains over the Ogun East Senatorial seat ahead of the 2027 general elections.

APC stakeholders in the district endorsed Abiodun as the consensus candidate for the seat in April 2026, a decision Daniel has rejected, insisting on open primaries and accusing the process of manipulation.

During the interview, Daniel warned Abiodun directly that his time in office was running out.

“Your Excellency, you are now going to be a former governor very soon. I would say, Your Excellency, you remember I came to you, and I told you pointedly that this young man who is following you is going to be the one who is going to destroy your government.”

He added that certain unspoken rules governed political conduct and that the governor had violated them.

“There are certain lines you don’t cross in this business. There are certain lines you don’t cross.”

Neither Abiodun’s media office nor the Ogun State Government House had responded publicly to the challenge as of the time of filing this report.

Abiodun is serving his second and final term as governor and is constitutionally barred from seeking re-election.

With his tenure ending, the Ogun East Senate seat has become his most publicly discussed political destination for 2027.

Daniel, the sitting senator for the district, has framed the contest as an act of betrayal by a man he claims to have helped install in Government House.