Justus Olugbenga Daniel has enjoyed the best of two worlds. He started off as a consummate businessman conquering the corporate world and through this became a major contributor to technological and economic development of the country. He thereafter veered to the slippery world of politics. In politics, he also made his mark becoming, in the process, a two-term governor of Ogun State between 2003 and 2011. However, he did not get to the pinnacle of statecraft by sudden flight. While his foray into politics may have been accidental, his motivation to serve and give back to the society was methodical and concretised through the Gateway Front Foundation, (GFF), which he founded to give succour to the underprivileged. GFF through which he bonded with the people provided the platform that eventually catapulted him to the highest political office in the land of his birth.
Daniel ran a people-oriented administration and his programmes and policies were, as a matter of rule, invested with compassion for the teeming masses. It is therefore not surprising that years after, his good governance is still clearly discernible throughout the length and breadth of Ogun State and he remains a much loved leader of his people. So much is known about his contributions here and some have erroneously defined his person via his own acts as governor and what his opponents threw against him in the many contrived war against his person and administration. But there is more to this Daniel than a political juggernaut who fought many battles and became, perhaps, the most vilified governor of his time.
Rivers APC primaries, INEC and Supreme Court uncertainty
Gbenga Daniel is a workaholic whose penchant for paying attention to details is renowned. He does not believe in half measures and this business-like approach to all matters became his credo as governor. Ogun State was the better for his sagacity. He built structures and also ensured that he built the people. He cemented his bond with the people, felt their pains, provided succour and changed their living conditions for the better.
Daniel believes that developmental projects that uproot the people without any alternative are not just anti-people but completely incompatible with democratic norms and good governance. He never allowed bulldozers to demolish houses, buildings and business concerns without first providing alternatives. This was demonstrated during the construction of the Abeokuta-Siun-Sagamu Expressway.
The legacies of Daniel’s eight years stewardship are still solid and imperishable in the landscape of the state and the hearts of its people. Egbaland, the seat of the state capital, was opened up and given a new lease on life while Daniel held sway. Yewaland was lifted out of obscurity and placed on the same pedestal with other sections of the State. The administration established a school of nursing at Ilaro, constructed a glittering new stadium of international standard and the most functional Free Trade Zone in the South West in the land of birth of the famous Dr Tunji Otegbeye. The fledging business enclave called Ogun Guangdong Free Trade Zone in Igbesa is home to many businesses creating employments opportunities for indigenes and non-indigenes.
The Ijebus and the Remos can also hail Gbenga Daniel for giving them their own fair share from Ogun State patrimony. The establishment of many higher institutions was part of a deliberate effort to shore up the human capital of the state. Under the human capital development initiative, some indigenes were sent to first rate institutions abroad and a number of them are back in the country contributing to its development. Under Gbenga Daniel, Ogun became the country’s leading investment destination of choice.
Expectedly the plot to derail his government by some entrenched interests made the headlines in the latter part of his tenure. There were various schemes to cut Daniel to size and some of his external opponents got internal help. The war of attrition continued after May 29, 2011 when he finished his second term. They never reckoned with his resilience, the transparent way he ran his administration and the people’s appreciation of his contribution to the Ogun project.
It was the same doggedness that he brought into his last assignment on the political terrain when he was beckoned on to coordinate the 2018 campaign of Atiku Abubakar who was seeking the presidential ticket of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Daniel crisscrossed the length and breadth of the country with his candidate. And through deft political moves and well-defined strategies, he led Team Atiku to victory at the PDP presidential primaries in Port Harcourt. The team delivered the PDP ticket to Atiku. And after that through some political manoeuvrings, the winning team was asked to take the back seat and another ran the presidential campaign.
Perhaps tired of the shenanigans of Nigeria’s slippery political terrain, Gbenga Daniel dropped a political bombshell on March 14, 2019. That manifesto is still reverberating across the country. In an unprecedented move, he penned a letter to the leadership of his party intimating them of his desire to bid goodbye to partisan politics after 18 years. Not to leave room for speculation, he said he would be devoting more time to the GFF and his budding project, the Sagamu based Political Academy (POLA). Of course the latest move has drawn flacks mainly from some entrenched interest who see in it another opportunity to throw dirt and opprobrium on Daniel. Now, they may quarrel with his resignation from the PDP and they may twist it to suit their hidden agenda masking such diatribe as public discourse. What is clear is that Daniel freely entered politics and he can and he has chosen to bid goodbye to partisan politics. More importantly it is his inalienable right to do so.
Today Daniel still enjoys remarkable goodwill and following across the land. There is now a certain maturation in his gait and dignified posture on matters public and private. And as he commemorates his 63rd birthday on April 6, 2019, may the good Lord continue to imbue him with strength as he begins another chapter of service to the fatherland via the Gateway Front Foundation and the Political Academy
Adebanjo served as Chief Press Secretary in the administration of Gbenga Daniel
and then