*' My relationship with Obasanjo'
BY DAPO AKINREFON
SINCE leaving office in 2011, former of governor Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, has been in the eye of the storm. So many allegations have been leveled against him.
OGD, as he is fondly called, recently opened up to select journalists at his Maryland office on the allegations.
He declares that he remains a reference point as far as Ogun politics is concerned. On his relationship with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, he explains that though it is cordial, he disagrees with him on some issues. He bares his mind on the recent land allocation in Ogun, noting that the state government is out to witch-hunt him.
What is your position on the recent allegation leveled against your administration regarding land allocation in Ogun State?
I don't have any issue with anybody. When I finally decided to respond, do you know what I call what is happening in Ogun State? I call it a tragic-comedy; it is a tragic series. The problem with our country is that we don't respect leadership. Like I said to people, before we recover, it will take a long time because the state was going at a very fast pace and the whole process has been halted. I can't say that everything I did was correct or right. But you can't also tell me that everything I did was wrong. I built three stadia; they said they were white elephant projects.
All the commissions that were set up in Ogun State were set up to look into the activities of government between 2003 and 2011. Was there no government before 2003? The Truth Commission that was set up in the state was to look at human right abuses between 2003 and 2011. All the various commissions that were set up were looking at Ogun State under the OGD administration.
That is a hostile investigation because if you really want to take land administration in Ogun state, why don't you start from 2000 if you want to restrict yourself to the civilian administration, if you don't want to go into the military era because civilian administration started in 1999.
May be in the process of doing that, you will discover that there were things that happened between 1999 and 2003. That is why I say that what is happening in Ogun is tragic comedy.
In any case, the only law guiding land use in this country is the Land Use Act and the Land Use Act is very clear. There is no issue of third party meandering in the process of land use and land application; and the only authority that can interpret the Land Use Act is the court of law or a court of competent jurisdiction as the lawyers will put it.
I have been reliably informed that the only condition where any governor has any right to meddle in any matter of land is when it is being revoked for public purpose: what they call in the public interest. So, this thing that the Ogun State government is celebrating is a daily occurrence everywhere.
My statutory responsibility is to give effect to the Bureau on Lands. You don't need to see me as governor to get your C of O (Certificate of Occupancy). The Bureau prepares it, they do the survey, they vet it and once they are persuaded that it is ready for signature, they bring it, I sign; those were the things we did. Why is it that thing we did nicely becomes an issue?
But did you acquire any personal land in Ogun State while you were governor?
Sure I did. The land that I have in Shagamu was acquired from Ogun State. You think there is something bad in that?
Was any of the land you bought revoked?
The governor has revoked everything, even the ones that are not personal, that belong to companies have been revoked.
What was your internally generated revenue like when you were governor?
When I came in, IGR was about N100 million and, by the time I left, it was about N1 billion. More than 60 per cent of that came from land charges. Despite the discount, we were still able to move land income from about N50 million to N700 million per month.
Having said all these, what is your reaction to the allegations leveled against you by the state government?
Between you and I, there is too much deceit. You know I went through a lot especially in what the media bring out and, like someone said, he believes what he reads. Sometimes, I have opened newspapers and I have seen fictions written about me.
I had a policy while I was in government and it was: Forget about what they are writing, go and do your work, your work will speak for you. It is not quite true. We did the work but the work is not speaking for us. Also, because people are not used to anything good from government; when they see a good government, they cannot even hold on to it.
(http://vml1.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Gbengha-D.jpg?9d7bd4) (http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/n58bn-scam-gbenga-daniel-gets-n500m-bail/gbengha-d/)Otunba Gbenga Daniel ... The reason is not too far-fetched probably because we have not been lucky enough to have good leaders; we also don't have capacity to hold on to a good one when we find it. It is clear now that everybody in history, who has tried to do something good, has been brought down.
You have been alleged to have looted the treasury of Ogun State. Do you think the EFCC has a case and did you steal Ogun money?
Because there is a case in court, I can't answer that question. The much I can tell you and I have repeated it several times and I am still standing on it, there is no single dime of Ogun State money that is missing, to the best of my knowledge.
What is your relationship with former President Olusegun Obasanjo?
I think the relationship is good; we don't have any personal issue. We may have disagreements in principle because we are probably two strong people. He is older and more experienced but I also have a few strong views about how this country should be run and on that we may disagree.
I have no regrets about that. Who is right and who is wrong, time will tell but if it is what we have seen in the last few decades, something definitely has not been done right in this country. And if you say by extension who has been the major players, he (Obasanjo) cannot excuse himself. I am not a terrible man but a principled man.
Until our people learn to stand by the correct things, there cannot be progress. I have forgiven everybody. What happened to Ogun State people was that they were hook winked and the media have complications there.
PDP or PPN, which party do you belong to?
I am an elder statesman. Talking seriously, today, in Ogun State, maybe that is also part of the problem, I have a large number of followers in PDP, in PPN and also in ACN. If you ask me how, I will explain. First, PDP is deluding itself with the games they are playing, whether they understand the implication or not. I am the only thing that PDP can use as reference in governance in Ogun State. I am the single symbol of PDP in the state because, for eight years, I ran Ogun State with the PDP flag; and all the jobs that I did, I did them with the banner of the PDP. So, if the PDP cannot see it that way, they are just jokers.
The PDP today is exactly the PDP when I got into it in 2001. Lackluster, without any capacity to win any elections, I moved into it and it was like an exodus and I brought a large number of people from the Alliance for Democracy at that time into the PDP. We won the election in 2003.
In 2003, out of the 26 House members, we had 25, AD had one. Even when Osoba was governor, out of the 20 local governments, out of the 26 House of Assembly members, the AD had 18, PDP had some and ANPP had some. But, in 2003, we won the election fair and square; we had local government elections, we won them fair and square and, by the grace of God, I led the elections. In 2007, despite the hullabaloo which you in the media were writing because it had no bearing with what was happening at home, I led the campaign, we won the elections. Ogun State was one of the few states that did not lose a seat in the court under my care. And then, Obasanjo decided he wanted to take over the party.
All our people who in 2011 the PDP got frustrated, a large number of them decided that they were going to run on the platform of the PPN. And so, we went to the elections, PDP got a technical knock out, they were completely disgraced. PPN did not get much; they had only three weeks to campaign anyway. I ran Ogun State for eight years and we ran a transition without bloodshed. I think that is the beauty of democracy. The last time I spoke to (Governor) Amosun was the night of the 2011 elections and the other time I saw him was when he came unceremoniously to my father's burial.
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