I don’t regret anything I did as governor –Gbenga Daniel

Former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, who marked his 60th birthday recently, shares his life experiences in this interview with ADEOLA BALOGUN OF PUNCH

When you left office as governor, did you find it difficult to adapt to your normal way of life before you became governor?

Not at all. When I was governor, I remained myself. I wasn’t living extraordinarily. I kept my office here and once in a while, I would come here and tell my secretary that she should ensure that they dust and keep the place clean. So when I left as governor, I didn’t find it difficult to acclimatise and there wasn’t any issue. I just resumed with my life where I stopped eight years earlier.

So, are you now fully back or you pop in once in a while maybe just to supervise or something?

Before I went into office as governor, I was the Chairman and Managing Director, but in my absence, the positions were separated. On my return, we now have the Managing Director, I am now the Chairman.

I do come in here to give advice and to support, because this is my profession and I enjoy the work.

Do you still have the intention of running for an elective office again?

I have always explained that in this country, the maximum anybody runs for is governorship. Above that, it is really by invitation.  I have run for governorship twice and that is the maximum anybody can run for. In Nigeria, it may appear as if you are running for a position but when you look carefully, it doesn’t work that way. Some powerful people would have reached a consensus somewhere and invite you to come and run, not that you would have decided to run.  All the people that have tried to run on their own for the post of either the President or the Vice President in the past have not been successful in Nigeria, and if you know any one instance, please tell me.

Why were you very close to the late Professor Ayodele Awojobi?

As young, secondary school students, you read several great people in history, you heard about them and you got motivated and attracted to them. Awojobi was one Professor that I was attracted to because of his capacity. It happened during our time that young men gravitated towards people we had respect for. Some people gravitated towards Professor Wole Soyinka and because of him went to read literary arts; some would gravitate towards army generals but I was more or less attracted to him. That’s what happened and he was the main reason why I went to study Mechanical Engineering.

And when he died, how did you feel?

Oh, it was probably one of the saddest days of my life. I was abroad in Germany then in 1984 when I heard that he passed on. I did not believe initially until reality dawned on me later that it was true. He was celebrated all over the world because people knew his value and academic prowess even much more abroad than in Nigeria. I watched the whole scenario on German television even at that time. He remains even in death one of the greatest professors of Mechanical Engineering with specialty in Mechanical Vibrations and Automatic Controls in history and his contribution to the body of knowledge in his chosen field remains indelible till date.

During your birthday on Sunday, there was praise worship for a couple of hours. Have you always been a man of God?

My father, His Grace Most Rev Abraham Adebola Daniel JP was a clergy man; I was born and raised in the vineyard of the Lord. So, it is in my gene to praise and worship God and that is precisely why whatever I touch, the first thing I do is to praise and thank God. And in any case, if you examine my life journey, I do have more than enough reasons to praise the Lord. The Bible teaches us that if you know how to give thanks, then God would multiply your blessings.

I asked that question because of some things that circulated around when you were governor which were inconsistent with the life of a man of God, like some people said you compelled them to take oath in the shrine and all of that.

They were all deliberately fabricated lies by political opponents and orchestrated by the media; that is all. They were tales by the moonlight, fictions by James Hardley Chase. Tales formulated by political opponents and largely amplified by the media. What shocked me however was that people even supposedly educated and intelligent believed those tales.

When you were governor, particularly during your second term, controversy virtually became your second name…

No, quite on the contrary, principle was my second name; it wasn’t controversy. It was about being principled. There is just a minimum that I would not go beyond under any circumstance based on my training and long cherished value systems. That is what happened.

You were said to be a governor that did not tolerate argument or dissent.

That is the opposite of what I am. All of that was media orchestration. Quite on the contrary, I remain a democrat; quite on the contrary, what I enjoy most is if people can come, sit with me and argue, I always respect superior argument and fall in line. So that is precisely the opposite of who I am. I am very comfortable in the company of highly intelligent and cerebral people.

Would you say that you were probably misunderstood then?

Deliberately so, all what happened then is what I call deliberate falsehood, formulated by political opponents and orchestrated by the media. I have described it correctly and I am not joking: tales by the moonlight, fiction by James Hardley Chase. That is how I think I can describe what happened. It was the exact opposite of who I am and I cannot be any other thing. My father was a clergy man and he didn’t run into it by accident. He started it as a teenager and he remained like that until he passed on in 2011. I was a strong Scripture Union member at the Baptist Boys High School, I became the School Chaplain at a stage and I was a chorister and later the school church organist. I have never at any time in my life and till date, belonged to any cult or secret society. So, when would I begin to be all those things I was accused of? When would I start to be the son of Lucifer? ‘It is a tale told by idiots full of sound and fury signifying nothing…’ if you permit me to quote from the Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare.

You became a successful engineer at such a young age. If you were that successful, why did you dabble into politics?

Well, I also explained in one of my recent interviews that the fact of the case is that there is so much that’s required to be done to lift the generality of our people from the shackles of poverty, and that there is a limit that can be done in the framework of being in the private sector. The challenge we have in our country is that public servants must use public service to accelerate development to make things happen. My going into service was not about me at all; if it was about me, like you said, I had no business there. But I believed and still believe that we could seize the opportunity of governance to turn around the society which we did to a large extent and  I am sure that even skeptics and critics in their quiet moments would admit. Let me tell you something that somebody told me recently; the person wasn’t from the state but he met one of my political colleagues from the state, who confessed to him and said, ‘Look, that guy(that is me), he did the right thing o, we were  just telling lies against him,’ a true confession. He said they were just telling lies against me because I was becoming too strong and popular. A lot of that happened during the time and to answer your question in a very straightforward manner, basically, public service for a few of us is not because there was something we were looking for but we wanted to change the society and if you want to change the society, it’s all about maintaining the minimum principles. And if you want to maintain the minimum principle, you would not therefore go and dine with the sons of Lucifer.  If, for instance, that’s what people think politics is all about, no. So when you insist that this is the minimum you will not go, people will then say you are difficult.

With the benefit of the hindsight now, did you regret the decision?

No regret whatsoever.  We met Ogun State as a complete civil service state; it is now fairly one of the best industrial locations you can go in this country; that was exactly what I went to do there. Three Free Trade Zones, several Industrial Estates, several housing estates, three new Stadia. etc.   People were not going to Ogun State before, now, everybody is now going there. And while I was there, I had opportunity to put a few landmarks; I was able to prove that things can be done effortlessly without breaking your nose, the way we did our projects; we woke up the civil service, we computerized the whole thing. God enabled us despite the paucity of funds, we were able to build probably the best state secretariat any state can build in this country; we were able to build probably the best NYSC camp anybody can build in this country. With our little or no resources, we were able to build three brand new stadiums; we were able to host the Junior World Cup, the best National Sports Festival to date called Gateway Games; we turned around tourism. Everything we did opened our eyes to areas where hitherto nobody was paying attention to and everybody is now talking about Ogun State.

Looking back, do you have regret for any decision you took as governor?

None. To the extent that at any point in time when you take decision, you only take it within the limit of information available to you. So I would say I have no regret for decisions I took with what I had at my disposal at the time I took them. I believe that I took the right decisions.

Because of your political position, you probably took some decisions which ordinarily you would not take. When you look back now, can you mention some of the decisions?

None, but if you remind me of any, I will be able to explain myself.

There was a time the Alake of Egbaland made a genuine comment concerning the state of road infrastructure which you were said to take as offence and you were said to have wanted to remove him.

Oh really, why was he not removed? Was he not removed because I was not governor then? You see, as the governor, if I really wanted to remove him, he would have been removed. There was never any intention to remove the Alake; that is not to say that we couldn’t have disagreements, or misunderstandings and all of that but the fact of the case is that I as a person have a lot of respect for the institution of the traditional rulers including the stool of the Alake of Egbaland. I revered them, respected them, promoted them, built the Obas Complex, the first of its kind in Yorubaland.  Don’t forget that I also handed his instrument of office to him. I approved his selection. I started the complete renovation of the palace, so why should I begin to undo what I did? All Obas and Baales in Ogun State are my genuine friends without exception. Go and research that.

In any case, as I said, these are parts of the misinformation and manipulations that happened as a result of political differences among some people during my administration. That was not even a decision but mere speculation. People easily forget that I led a full delegation of my cabinet to the palace of the Alake on a courtesy visit to douse the unnecessary tension and with that visit, I have closed that matter.

Chief Doja Adewolu, an elder from OgunState once told me that it was the present governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun that actually took you to the former President Olusegun Obasanjo when you wanted to be governor and actually put down money for your political take off.

Well, these are some of the things I would not want to talk about but to set the record straight, I think you should tell Chief Adewolu that he probably had forgotten that I attended the same school with Chief Obasanjo; we both attended the Baptist Boys High School and to that extent, Chief Obasanjo is somebody I had known as a young man and if I needed anybody to take me to him, it wouldn’t definitely be Governor Amosun. People should also not forget that I was privileged to host Chief Olusegun Obasanjo with my colleagues in my Maryland residence in 1999 before the election and I am proud to assert that we actually contributed our own widow’s mite to his election even at that time. Chief Obasanjo came in the company with Otunba Fasawe, Dr. Bode Kalejaiye and Kenny Martins amongst others. They are all still alive. That is part of the lies I am talking about. Quite on the contrary, people should not forget that while I was running for governorship, Governor Amosun ran for Senate with our political machinery called OGDCO and we cooperated effectively then.  If you are talking about Amosun providing money, I think Chief Adewolu was making a big mistake and he was talking about something he doesn’t know anything about.

I will however be happy if he is able to make public any proof of his assertions.

Now that you are out of office, I am sure you have met and probably made up with some of these people.

There is no issue; it was politics. Chief Adewolu wanted his kinsman to be governor and his kinsman has become governor. So, God has answered their prayers. I cannot be governor again; God has answered my prayers, I have been governor for eight years and God has answered his own prayers too. His kinsman has become governor even though in the process, they told loads of lies against me, but that is all right, no problem. It’s the way God desires. My Bible teaches me that a man cannot attain anything if it’s not ordained from Heaven, so I am at peace.

What would you say is the priciest thing to you?

Ha, I have not thought about that but I guess that if you are talking about human beings, I think I have a lot of value for my wife.