OGUN LABOUR PARTY: KEHINDE SOGUNLE, A POLITICAL MERCENARY, NOT A SOCIAL DEMOCRAT

By Kika Glasgow, Publicity Secretary, Ogun State Labour Party_

Abeokuta, Ogun State — The Ogun State Labour Party has read with utter disbelief the latest political treatise by Dr. Kehinde Sogunle, who parades himself as Director-General of the Ladi Adebutu Campaign Organisation (LCO) for the 2027 gubernatorial election, while conveniently refusing to renounce his membership of our great party.

Let it be stated unambiguously: Dr. Sogunle is not a member of the Labour Party in any moral or political sense. He is a political opportunist who has consistently treated our party as a transactional vehicle to be boarded, exploited, and discarded at will. His latest intellectual gymnastics, dressed in the borrowed robes of Richard Joseph’s prebendalism, is nothing but a desperate attempt to sanitise a career built on the very political predation he now claims to condemn.

*THE 2023 ALLIANCE: A CASE STUDY IN TRANSACTIONAL POLITICS*

The public record is clear. In March 2023, Dr. Sogunle, having failed to secure the Labour Party governorship ticket and having seen his candidacy excluded from the INEC list, unilaterally collapsed the Labour Party structure into an alliance with the PDP, just 24 hours before the governorship election. He charged all Obidients and Labour Party members to vote for the PDP’s Ladi Adebutu, a decision that was never ratified by any competent organ of the party.

What Dr. Sogunle has never explained — and what our current State Chairman, Apagun Olaolu Samuel Babatunde, has now publicly confirmed — is the financial dimension of that alliance. A substantial sum, running into over two hundred and thirty million naira, was eventually agreed by him to have been released to facilitate the logistics of that electoral collaboration. Dr. Sogunle, who positioned himself as the principal recipient, allegedly never disbursed the funds to the party structures that were expected to execute the alliance on the ground.

When party members confronted him, he initially claimed the money was given to him personally. Only under sustained pressure did he release a paltry N300,000 to each local government chairman and sums of N4,000,000 and above to a select group of close allies and those who threatened to petition the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). This is the conduct of a man who has the audacity to lecture Ogun State on institutional integrity.

*THE PREBENDALISM IRONY: POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK*

Dr. Sogunle’s article invokes the scholarly concept of prebendalism to attack Senator Solomon Adeola and the APC. We make no defence of the APC, but we note the profound hypocrisy. Prebendalism, as Richard Joseph defined it, describes a system where state offices are captured to sustain patron-client networks and procure electoral compliance. Is this not precisely what Dr. Sogunle himself represents?

He joined the Labour Party not out of ideological conviction but as a placeholder for a larger political transaction. He used our platform to negotiate an alliance that served his personal interests. He held onto a Labour Party membership while simultaneously serving as the Director-General of a rival party’s campaign. And he now writes eloquent treatises about “institutional architecture” while his own political career has been an exercise in institutional vandalism.

The proof of Dr. Sogunle’s true character lies not in his prose but in his practice. He is the very embodiment of the transactional politician he claims to despise.

*THE NATIONAL BODY MUST ACT*

The Labour Party, under the legitimate leadership of National Chairman Senator Nenadi Esther Usman, is a party of principle, built on the pillars of social justice, equity, and the dignity of labour. It is not a political hostel where aspirants lodge temporarily before checking into the highest bidder’s mansion. 

We therefore call on the National Working Committee of the Labour Party, under Senator Nenadi Usman, to immediately institute disciplinary proceedings against Dr. Kehinde Sogunle for anti-party activities. His continued claim to Labour Party membership while openly directing the campaign of another party’s gubernatorial candidate is a flagrant violation of our constitution and a betrayal of every member who shed sweat and resources to build this party in Ogun State.

The National body must also demand a full account of the funds that were deployed during the 2023 LP-PDP alliance. If Dr. Sogunle received money in the name of the Labour Party and failed to remit it, that is not merely an internal disciplinary matter; it is a matter for the anti-graft agencies.

*TO THE PEOPLE OF OGUN STATE*

We urge the good people of Ogun State to see Dr. Sogunle for what he is: a political merchant who trades in the currency of deception. His belated rediscovery of progressive politics, his sudden romance with institutional reform, and his theatrical denunciation of prebendalism are all part of a script written for the benefit of his current paymasters.

The Labour Party in Ogun State remains the authentic vehicle for the emancipation of the masses. Under the leadership of our State Chairman, Apagun Olaolu Samuel Babatunde, and the national leadership of Senator Nenadi Usman, we are rebuilding our structures, reconciling our ranks, and preparing to present a credible, people-centred alternative in 2027. We do not need the contaminated endorsements of political itinerants.

Dr. Sogunle may write as many articles as he wishes. He may quote scholars and invoke lofty concepts. But the people of Ogun State know the difference between a man who builds institutions and a man who plunders them. They know the difference between a committed progressive and a transactional politician.

The Labour Party stands with the former. Dr. Sogunle belongs to the latter.

Signed,

*Kika Glasgow*

Publicity Secretary, Ogun State Labour Party

October 6, 2026

OPINION: POLITICS OF DIVERSION, SUBVERSION AND IMPUNITY IN OGUN STATE— Apagun

Apagun 

For several times I had been hearing about it, and I always thought in this century it must be a story concocted by the opposition to tarnish another in order to sway sympathy votes.

That assumption changed yesterday evening.

On a rush to a meeting in Sagamu, passing through Awolowo Market, I saw it with my own eyes. Standing boldly in front of the market was the photograph in question. Some parts of the market are being pulled down, while a project linked to the Federal Cooperative College from Oyo State is being built there, presented as some sort of intervention for Ogun State.

It dawned on me that what people had been whispering about Senator Adeola Olamilekan, popularly called Yayi, the APC gubernatorial candidate and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, deserved closer scrutiny.

The Diversion Question

The central question is simple: why should a federal institution domiciled in Oyo State be executing projects in an Ogun State market? In Nigerian budgeting, constituency projects are often routed through MDAs outside their mandate areas. Critics call this diversion, a shifting of public resources from their statutory purpose to political branding.

This is not just about Yayi. It is about a system where budget lines are inserted, agencies are used as conduits, and the real source of funding, taxpayers money, is repackaged as personal generosity.

Recent reports lend weight to public concern. Civic groups and petitioners have in recent months asked the EFCC and ICPC to investigate issues ranging from the distribution of transformers presented as birthday gifts, to the 119 campaign vehicles donated to Yayi's campaign, to alleged irregularities in the 2026 budget linked to his committee. afafbb30cae0

These are petitions and allegations, not convictions. But in a democracy, they cannot simply be waved away.

Subversion of Institutions

Subversion happens when institutions meant to check power become tools of power. When a market built for traders in Ogun is demolished and rebuilt in the name of an outside college, traders ask: who approved this, under what mandate, and for whose benefit?

When the lion kills the children of the poor, we assume the community is being sanctified. But when it captures the children of the noble, we cry foul and tag it an abomination. That proverb captures our selective outrage. Impunity thrives when we normalize it against the weak and only condemn it when it touches the powerful.

Impunity and the Burden of Proof

To be clear, alleging that a public official "has a case to answer" is different from establishing guilt. What is on record is that petitions seeking probe of campaign finance limits and budget insertions have been submitted to anti graft agencies. It is the duty of the EFCC and ICPC to investigate dispassionately, and the duty of the accused to cooperate transparently. bb30cae0

Impunity is not only about breaking the law. It is about acting in a way that suggests the law does not apply. Building political capital with public funds, relocating projects across state lines without clear justification, and branding government interventions as personal favours all feed that perception.

Conclusively , what I saw at Awolowo Market was more than a building project. It was a symbol. It represents a politics where diversion is normalized, subversion is strategized, and impunity is performed in broad daylight.

Nigeria cannot build democratic values on this foundation. If Ogun State is to move forward, citizens must demand three things: transparency in how constituency projects are sited and funded, accountability from anti graft agencies to treat petitions on merit, and honesty from political actors to separate personal philanthropy from public expenditure.

Until then, the story will no longer sound like opposition gossip. It will look like what it is: a test of whether our democracy can defend itself. 

Apagun Olaolu Samuel 

Labour Party, Ogun State

Chairman

LABOUR PARTY: APAGUN'S WARD PASSES VOTE OF CONFIDENCE ON HIS LEADERSHIP

Declares April 25th State Congress Sacrosanct

Apagun 

Abeokuta — The ward of the embattled Ogun State Labour Party Chairman, Apagun Olaolu Samuel, has passed a vote of confidence on his leadership, describing him as an astute and pragmatic politician whose legacy remains a blessing to the party in the state.

The endorsement came during a special Independent Day ward general meeting held at Ita-Agemo Igbein, Abeokuta, in the company of the congress-elected Abeokuta South Local Government Chairman, Abdul Waheed Popoola, and other party faithful.

Speaking at the meeting, the Ward Chairman, Abd Quadri Isma'eel, showered encomiums on Apagun, noting that his leadership style has brought stability, discipline and renewed hope to the Labour Party in Ogun State.

He described Apagun as a grassroots mobilizer whose commitment to internal democracy and party growth is unmatched,  alleging the enemies of internal democracy and transactional leaders unknown to the grassroots as viruses plaguing the party in the state 

Members of the ward, in a unanimous voice, later passed a vote of confidence on Apagun's leadership, insisting that the April 25th State Congress which produced him and others in his cabinet remains sacrosanct and cannot be upturned by any manufactured list.

"We stand solidly behind our son and leader. The April 25th congress was duly conducted and monitored by INEC. Any other claim is null and void," Isma'eel declared.

In his remarks, Abd Waheed Popoola reaffirmed the position of Abeokuta South LGA executives, pledging their loyalty to the congress-elected leadership, as any other laying claim through the strokes of pen should come up with the proof of their April 25th Congress.

Responding during the meeting, Apagun Olaolu Samuel said God is in control, all hands must be on deck as the leadership at the state level is not sleeping over the burning issues. "Soonest, the substance shall be separated from the chaff, the interest of the enemy is to demarket the party and run down her popularity ahead of 2027 elections, we shall not engage them in a way that will fast track their goal" he concluded.

The meeting ended with chants of solidarity as members vowed to resist any attempt to impose alien leadership on the party in Ogun State.

It should be noted that the attempted illegal usurpation of Ogun State is currently before a competent Court of Jurisdiction in the state.

Dare Popoola 

MORE FRUSTRATIONS OVER IRAN: USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT HEADING TOWARD MIDDLE EAST AS CARRIER BUILDUP GROWS

Putin: "The whole world is amazed by the courage and heroism of the Iranian nation and its resilience"

United States is sending the USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT towards middle east as the US President Donald Trump said is either Iran signed the deal or exist no more.

Donald Trump's leadership have been increasingly desperate and frustrated at the same time as Tehran refused to surrender or sign Trump's deal.

According to the reports by both A Jazeera and the Jerusalem Post, President Trump has decided to deploy a third aircraft carrier to the Middle East.

A US official told Al Jazeera the carrier and its strike group are heading to the Middle East, 

With three aircraft carriers and two amphibious groups expected around Iran by the end of November

Russian President Vladimir Putin commended the Persian leadership for standing up to defend their sovereignty.

Putin said, the whole world is amazed by the courage and heroism of the Iranian nation and its resilience. He said the world will have to agree on a new global order

Sooner or later, East and West, North and South will have to agree on the principles of a new world order, Vladimir Putin said.

The world cannot be bipolar; it must be diverse and multipolar." President Putin declares the end of block-based hegemony and asserts every nation's right to pursue its own path.  Russia is still viewed in the West as part of an empire that should be “broken up further,” Vladimir Putin said addressing the Valdai Forum.

He argued that Western countries had in practice worked toward that goal despite Moscow’s years-long efforts to become part of a common European space.

Putin said true national greatness requires keeping pace with change, or ideally staying ahead of it, adding that Russia is charting its own path into the future and is ready to cooperate with other countries.

Moscow firmly rejects the nostalgic drive toward a cold-war-style bipolar order. A truly multipolar world directly undermines Western bloc politics, demanding a system built on sovereign equality and diverse power centers rather than ideological conformity.

Putin 

Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club, the Russian leader said current global trends are forcing countries to confront a central question: how to preserved international peace and security.

Putin added that responsibility for the world’s shared future is “not an abstract slogan.”

He called the killing of Iran’s Ali Larijani a ‘tremendous mistake.’ ‘Such a person would be needed today to find compromises & solutions that could bring peace to the Persian Gulf’

Vladimir Putin said Russia hopes the Strait of Hormuz will reopen and sanctions on Iran will be lifted.

He reiterated that Moscow opposes aggression and supports resolving disputes through peaceful means. Putin also said Russia’s proposal to transfer Iran’s enriched uranium to Russian territory remains on the table.

Moscow and Tehran continue their economic and political ties despite US and allies pressure.

Putin: Russia was drawn into the Ukraine conflict

Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Forum, Vladimir Putin said Russia did not start the war but was deliberately pushed into the Ukraine conflict and forced to defend itself “with arms in hand” in response to aggression against the country.

He said Russophobia and discrimination against Russians must not become state ideology, and argued that seeking Russia’s “strategic defeat” was unacceptable.

Putin launches a fierce attack on the UN’s management, stating it is  run far less democratically than originally intended  and calling out Western manipulation within global institutions.

Putin’s direct assault on the UN leadership exposes the stark reality of Western double standards. By calling out how global governance has been hijacked as an instrument of Western influence, Moscow forcefully pushes for a complete overhaul toward a truly equal multipolar system.

Putin concluded by calling on countries to live peacefully and jointly search for ways to achieve that.

American forces set to leave Iraq, leaving opening for Iran

U.S. forces are set to depart from their last bases in Iraq by Wednesday, a move celebrated as a victory by Iran and its allies, who now have deep influence in the country where 4,500 Americans died during more than two decades of war.

Iraqi security experts say the withdrawal — agreed to in 2024 under U.S. President Joe Biden and carried out by Donald Trump’s administration even as it wages war against Iran — could give Tehran and its allies free rein, while also allowing other U.S. enemies, including the Islamic State, to stage a comeback.

It is glaring now more than ever that the regional security is to be primarily handle by the middle east leaders with Tehran playing major roles.

Iran stands to benefit strategically from the coalition’s departure because it removes a military presence that for years acted as a counterweight to Tehran’s influence in Iraq,” said Jasim al-Bahadli, an Iraqi security analyst specialising in studying armed Shi’ite groups aligned with Iran.

He predicted that the pro-Iranian militia groups would not only portray the departure as a victory for their movement, but also “seek to translate that momentum into greater influence over security and political decision making.”

Abu Mojtaba al-Yasiri, a commander in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an ‌umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, described the U.S. withdrawal as “a historic victory for the Iraqi Islamic resistance groups and honorable Iraqis, and a crushing defeat for the American project.”

“On Sept. 30, we will celebrate the turning of a black page in Iraq’s history and the failure of the occupation to impose its will on our country,” he told Reuters. “Iraq has proven that its sovereignty cannot be secured by foreign forces, but by the resistance and the will of its people.”

NOT READY

While the eventual departure of U.S. forces is broadly popular among Iraqis, those who worry about the strength of the Iran-backed groups fear the withdrawal is premature.

“We believe Iraq is still not fully ready to take over the security file at this time,” Abdulrahman al-Zobaie, a Sunni tribal leader in Fallujah, once a bastion of anti-American resistance, told Reuters.

“All Iraqis aspire to full sovereignty, and no Iraqi would dispute that. But I believe that the [U.S.-led coalition] leaving in this way and creating a vacuum is what all Iraqis fear.”

American forces invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Sunni Muslim dictator Saddam Hussein, and went on to occupy the country, install a Shi’ite-led government and fight a years-long counterinsurgency before withdrawing at the end of 2011.

They returned less than three years later to help Iraqi forces defeat the Sunni militant group the Islamic State in a major war from 2014 to 2017.

Around twice as many Americans died in “Operation Iraqi Freedom” as in the parallel war in Afghanistan, which ended with an abrupt U.S. withdrawal in 2021.

In recent years, Iraq has been the only country to maintain close political and military alliances with both the United States and Iran, which sometimes used Iraqi territory as a proxy battlefield.

HEARING DATE FIXED AS APAGUN DRAGS NENADI LED LABOUR PARTY, INEC TO COURT

Alleges Manufacture of New State Officers Against April 25th Legitimate Congress

Apagun

Abeokuta — The crisis rocking the Labour Party in Ogun State has taken a new turn as Apagun Olaolu Samuel dragged the Senator Nenadi Usman led national leadership of the Labour Party, the beneficiaries of hastily and illegal concocted office made state Congress results and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to court over alleged manipulation of the state congress results.

Apagun, who claims to be the duly elected State Chairman from the congress held and monitored by INEC officials on the 25th of April this year, with the DSS and Nigerian Police on ground is accusing the parties of jettisoning the legitimate outcome to manufacture and recognize a new set of state officers without any Congress.

In the suit number FHC/AB/CS/123/2026 filed at the court, Apagun is praying for an order to nullify the purported list of officers currently paraded as executives of the party in the state, and to compel INEC who had at a time sent a copy of the Congress report to the Nigerian Police Ogun State Headquarters to affirm the true leadership of Ogun State Labour Party in May when there was an issues over the state Secretariat of the party between Chief Mrs Oluwabukola Aṣabi Sogoye and Com. Lookman Abiodun Jagun to recognize and publish only the names of those who emerged from the April 25th congress as delivered to the Police department.

According to him, the April 25th exercise was conducted in line with the party constitution, duly observed by INEC monitors, and produced clear winners across all positions. He described any other list in circulation as a product of illegality and an affront to democratic principles.

“The congress of April 25 was free, fair and monitored. What we are seeing now is a deliberate attempt to replace the will of delegates with manufactured names. The court must intervene to protect internal democracy,” a source close to Apagun said.

When INEC Ogun state Secretariat was visited, Apagun Olaolu Samuel, whose name was in their records as pasted on their notice board since April had been removed since August 17th and Awaiting instructions from National written therein as officials of INEC in Ogun State declined to comment, on the court processes. Efforts to get a reaction from the Labour Party national secretariat were also unsuccessful as at press time.

The development is the latest in a series of legal battles that have plagued the Labour Party in Ogun State and Nigeria in recent time, with rival factions laying claim to the state leadership.

Political observers say the outcome of the case could determine the direction of the party ahead of future elections in the state.

The hearing date has been fixed for Wednesday, 30th of September, 2026.

Senator Nenad Usman who hitherto has been enjoying a momentum supports loose credibility immediately after the national convention of the part in Abia state when her decided to walk against all the convention ratification.

Congresses conducted through the Wards, Local government and States were ratified by the national convention. After the convention, many of the state leadership were abruptly replaced. 

The party currently is nothing to recon with as per the next year general elections.