Abiodun Vs Daniel: Yet Another Garbage On 2027

BY ILESANMI MARTINS 

In “Ogun 2027: How senatorial ambition tears Abiodun, OGD part,” a piece published in the Wednesday, September 3 edition of the Vanguard newspaper, the author, James Ogunnaike, carries out an image laundering exercise for the Senator representing Ogun East in the National Assembly, Gbenga Daniel.

Because he sets up a binary dichotomy in which the Senator is everything good and the sitting Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun, everything bad, he cannot avoid turning his piece into comedy.

Here’s some damning data: out of the 32 paragraphs in the “analysis,” only four, one of which is a one-sentence paragraph, reflects Governor Abiodun’s position. And to back up his “analysis,” the author promotes the views of a supposed “APC chieftain” who, it turns out, is an associate of the controversial senator. This chieftain, whose views are generously splashed across eight paragraphs (we are using paragraphs instead of word count, which will definitely be more damning, in this essay because the piece under reference was not found online as of 8pm on September 3), has noting but condemnation for Governor Abiodun.

The piece under reference, then, is all about Gbenga Daniel: the miserable quotation of Governor Abiodun’s spokesman is a mere face-saving strategy that masquerades as hearing the other side. Indeed, after allowing the “APC chieftain” referenced to spew his bile, the piece then fittingly concludes with a statement by the “OGD Media Team.” The desolation is complete.

The author is of course free to write in defence of Daniel, but masquerading this hit piece as political analysis is a bit of a stretch. It shows utter disrespect for the sensibility and emotion of readers. That is the danger of partisanship: it robs a writer of respect. It is hoped that the lessons thrown up by this garbage piece will be learnt and amends will be made.

Now, since the piece under reference declares with a bold face that 2027 politicking is behind the disagreement between Daniel and Abiodun, merely regurgitating the hogwash that Daniel’s media aides have loaded the public space with, it is fair to ask what demolishing Gbenga Daniel’s properties will add to Governor Abiodun’s political fortune.

On current evidence, the Governor has control of the APC structure in Ogun State and will definitely get the Ogun East senatorial ticket should he decide to contest. What conceivable benefit, then, could Daniel’s demolished properties, assuming but not conceding that 2027 ambition is really the bone of contention between him and Daniel, have for him?

Quite often, out of sheer mental laziness, journalists join politicians in purveying their extremely puerile and perverse ideas.

Even as Daniel’s cronies regurgitate 2027 garbage, we must ask whether the statutory responsibility of the Ogun State government to audit its properties and GRAs has become an illegality simply because a former governor believed to have illegally hijacked government land is involved.

Audits, as far as we know, are carried out by every government, and Daniel himself performed this duty when he was in government. Interestingly, in Sagamu where the audit that affected Daniel’s properties took place, about 38 landlords were affected and 37 of them have already complied with the government’s requirements. The landlords have come to the Ministry of Urban Development and Physical Planning to verify their papers and those who had contraventions have paid the requisite fines and regularized their papers.

All that the Ogun State government is asking the distinguished senator to do is to come forward with his papers for verification. That is what he should have done instead of launching a media war and initiation lawfare (legal warfare). What really is the senator hiding? Is it that he actually has no papers to present? That would be extremely strange.

Is it political vendetta for ministries or agencies of government to do what that they were statutorily created to do? Are we saying that different sets of laws should be applied to the rich and the poor? The properties in dispute were allegedly built on land meant for judges’ quarters and a driving school. If the senator acquired the lands illegally and yet failed to perfect his papers, it would be quite remiss of the government to let this slide. Hopefully, the Senator will stop the baby chant of witch-hunt and simply comply with lawful directive. Like everyone else, he will have to pay fines if it is established that he committed building violations, and correct whatever needs to be corrected.

Now, it is a terrible thing for journalists to shirk what should be their home work and instead rely on information peddled by partisan hacks. When Governor Abiodun persuaded the Senator previously representing Ogun East, Lekan Mustapha (against the judgment of the Awujale of Ijebuland who was said to have pointed out that the intended beneficiary could not be trusted) was his house demolished? And when Ibikunle Amosun took over from Dr Tejuoso in the National Assembly, was Tejuoso’s house demolished? Of what importance is the demolition of Daniel’s properties to the governor’s assumed ambition? By the way, is the writer insinuating that the Ogun East Senatorial seat is the sole right of Daniel? It is a fact that Dapo Abiodun contested and won a senatorial election in 95/96 during the UNDP era that was eventually truncated. If and when he decides to run for Senate, he does not need to demolish anyone’s properties to do so.

Since the writer is such a big fan of Daniel’s, why not ask him where his famed political prowess was during the eight years of Amosun when he was kept in political oblivion? Besides, why did Amosun not allow him to complete the Conference Hotel for eight years and wanted to demolish it? It was Abiodun that gave him the approval to complete and commission the edifice. And was it not Abiodun that gave him the Ogun East ticket in the first place? Yet Daniel repaid these good gestures with treachery, working for the opposition in 2023 and even instructing his supporters to vote during the August 2025 by-election in Remo ‘like they did last time,” before he was busted by the APC leadership and suspended from the party. But more importantly, let him just simply produce his title documents and building approval showing ownership of the lands in question and save himself from all the empty, endless talk.

Instead of “analysts” asking Daniel to submit his papers, they are ascribing political motives to a purely administrative issue. Why was this motive not ascribed when Abiodun prevailed on Lekam Mustapha to concede the ticket to Daniel? Besides, it seems that our “analysts” have forgotten the ignoble role allegedly played by Daniel during the 2023 polls when he worked with the opposition to truncate Abiodun’s re-election. It seems that as far as these “analysts” are concerned, Daniel is beyond scrutiny. Just how can a reporter rely on hearsay?

Since the writer made reference to the partial demolition of Datkem Plaza, a case still in court, let us remind him that Datkem was an outright illegality.

The fact is that under Daniel’s administration, ‘Datkem Enterprises Limited’ submitted an application for an office building with a proposal for five floors with airspace of 3 metres at the right, 5 metres at the left, 5 metres at the rear and a setback of 32.5516 metres to the middle of Ijebu Ode/Ibadan road, Ijebu-Ode. However, the construction on site did not conform with the approved plan.

Besides, the building was enlarged with an additional storey building at the back. Now, the government gave a contravention notice with on May 24, 2022, and a stop work order on May 24, 2022. Both were ignored, and so it issued another stop work order on July 22, 2022. Again, it issued yet another demolition notice on October 11, 2022, while a notice to seal was issued on October 4, 2022. Worst still, the re-sealing of the site on August, 1 2023 did not stop work on the site. The developer kept working at night and thereafter, another quit notice was served on 31st August, 2023.

Worse still, as the Ogun State government later found out, the company used to get the approval does not exist: what exists is Datkem Enterprises, which cannot have the kind of building in question.

In any case, was Daniel’s wife’s name registered to that property in Ijebu Ode at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)?

If Datkem had collapsed, the writer would have joined the chorus of condemnation of governmental failure. It is unfortunate when journalists refuse to do basic research. The writer could have sought the opinion of the Ministry of Urban and Physical Planning but he did not. That would have put a lie to his hatchet job.