Former Director-General of the Atiku Campaign Organisation, and two-term governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel, has reaffirmed his loyalty to the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, saying he will never abandon him.
Daniel’s comments were in apparent response to a tweet by former Aviation Minister, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, accusing him of abandoning Atiku while his petition against the election of President Muhammadu Buhari was ongoing.
Daniel had on Saturday resigned his membership of the PDP saying he was quitting partisan politics after 20 years to pay attention to his charitable and non-political organisations.
A day after the announcement, he however said his supporters were urging him to lead them to the All Progressives Congress, APC, sparking speculations that he was planning to join the ruling party.
Commenting on the events, Fani-Kayode said it was sad that Daniel, who was Atiku’s closest confidant in the South West could dump the opposition party “before the conclusion of Atiku’s election petition.”
His comments were made on his twitter handle @realFFK. He said: “For the 1st DG of @atiku’s PCO and his closest confidante in SW to dump @OfficialPDPNig and join @OfficialAPCNg before the conclusion of Atiku’s election petition is sad. For a man that was gunning to be SGF in an Atiku govt. to join Buhari after Atiku was rigged out is tragic!”
However, in a statement issued on Tuesday, Daniel insisted he had not abandoned Atiku and also denied joining the APC.
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According to him, he had told his followers to “join any political party of their choice.”
The statement read in part; “I have not, will not and will never abandon Atiku. Atiku is different from PDP. I have resigned from PDP and lost interest in partisan politics having put in about 20 years of my life in a thankless process.
“I will commit my God-given resources to help the less privileged through my Foundation and will contribute sharing the body of knowledge through our not for profit Political Academy. That will be a thankful process.
“I will continue to support the political process in a non partisan manner. I am clear with my position, without any ambiguity. There is no need to insinuate, speculate, extrapolate, anticipate or draw conclusions on my behalf.
“I did not expect such a simple personal decision can generate such national discourse and for that I remain grateful to God. I am however most grateful to all my friends and well wishers. The phones have not stopped ringing. All the advice are well taken. My very deep appreciation.”
