The political fault lines in Ogun have deepened yet again, as Governor Dapo Abiodun’s administration has served fresh contravention, quit, and demolition notices on multiple properties linked to former governor and current senator, Otunba Gbenga Daniel.
The latest targets—Asoludero Court in Sagamu, the flagship Conference Hotels Limited, and its annex—received the notices late on Thursday, August 8, 2025, sparking immediate outrage from allies of the senator, who accuse the governor of weaponising state power to settle personal scores.
The Abiodun administration is invoking the Ogun State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law No. 61 of 2022—legislation enacted years after the buildings were completed. Asoludero Court was finished in 2004, the Conference Hotel in 2013, and the annex in 2015.
“This is a calculated vendetta,” declared Steve Oliyide, spokesperson for the OGD Media Office. “By issuing contravention and demolition notices at the same time, they’ve trampled due process. This reckless disregard for law is the same pattern we saw with the illegal midnight demolition of DATKEM Plaza in 2023—a case they’re still losing in court.”
The 2023 incident, in which a shopping plaza owned by Daniel’s wife was razed under controversial circumstances, remains a political scar. That demolition took place in the dead of night, over a weekend, and is still the subject of ongoing litigation in which the state government has suffered repeated legal setbacks.
Due Process Ignored
Under the 2022 law, penalties for planning contraventions do not automatically extend to demolition, and a sequence of notices with adequate time gaps is required. In this case, Oliyide says, the government skipped straight to the nuclear option—threatening to tear down properties without allowing time for any legal challenge or remedy.
“This isn’t governance; it’s political thuggery in official clothing,” the OGD statement read. “We call on the Nigerian Bar Association, human rights groups, and civil society to push back against this naked abuse of office.”
Mounting Political Risk
The escalation comes at a time when Ogun’s political environment is already charged, with Abiodun and Daniel occupying rival spheres of influence within the state’s elite. Critics warn that such brazen moves against political opponents erode investor confidence and set a precedent for property seizures based on shifting political winds.
Daniel’s legal team is preparing a court challenge, promising to hold Governor Abiodun “accountable for this assault on justice and decency.”
Whether this standoff ends in the courtroom or with bulldozers on Sagamu’s streets, one thing is clear: Ogun State’s political rivalry has crossed from rhetoric into a battle over bricks and mortar.
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