Haba! Gbenga Daniel

Comfort Obi

Last year, in the heat of the many controversies which engulfed Ogun State Governor, Gbenga Daniel, I was, along with a few of my colleagues, invited to a breakfast with him at his intimidating, and beautiful Maryland, Lagos, private residence. Before then I had had little contact with him. The first was when his Secretary to the State Government died in a vehicle accident on his way from the burial of Ag. President (then, Vice President) Goodluck Jonathan’s father in Otueke, Bayelsa State. Naturally, Daniel was devastated. But he lost my sympathy when it was reported in the media that the SSG’s driver, who was injured in the accident, had been ordered locked up by Daniel. My anger boiled to high heavens. I felt it was an injustice. The driver was not responsible for the accident. It was caused by a burst tyre. So, I did a column, condemning Daniel, and his government, over the fate of the driver.
This magazine usually hit the newsstands in Lagos and Ogun States on Sunday. As soon as Daniel read my column that Sunday morning, he called me. I had gone to church, so, he sent a text message, giving me his numbers to call him. I did, the next day. He surprised me. He was not angry. Instead, he calmly told me the story of the driver. What had been published, over which I reacted, he said, was not exactly true. He had not only taken care of the driver by sending him to the hospital and paying his bills, he had visited his family, and asked the police to release him as soon as he made his statement. I promised him I would always call him before I comment on him next time. A couple of times, I did. Which was why I was invited to that breakfast meeting.
I know it is difficult to read anybody else’s mind. But at that breakfast meeting, I felt he was disarmingly honest with us. He told us his “Ogun State story.” His mirage of problems. The seeming gang-up against him which stretches from Lagos to Abeokuta. At a point, he looked helpless and vulnerable. Looking at him, and listening to him, it was difficult for me to believe that he is an emperor, a murderer, a cultist, and more, as he is often presented. I tried to put his views across thereafter in a couple of write-ups. Perhaps, I reasoned, he is no Hitler, afterall. But now, well, I don’t know.
This governor would go down as the most controversial governor in the history of Ogun State. Indeed, he would easily take the cake in Nigeria. He attracts controversy like bees to honey. He is either quarrelling with one person or the other. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo. One traditional ruler or the other. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole. Senators, and a good number of the House of Reps. members from his state. Several Ogun State members of the House of Assembly. Some prominent politicians, and elders from the state. A couple of his former Commissioners and aides. And the list can go on, and on. Scandals have also trudged his way. The alleged oath-taking between him and members of the House, in full nakedness, with him as the initiator, and chief administrator. Yet, I was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. The face of the Daniel who spoke to us at that breakfast meeting, the humilily of the Daniel who called me to explain the fate of the driver, kept casting doubt in the face of the overwhelming allegations. But one day, after yet another controversy, I caught myself asking: What’s wrong with Daniel? Dear Readers, this question remain unanswered. Yet, Governor Daniel has again gotten embroiled in another gutter incident. What is the story this time?
On an IRS flight from Abuja to Lagos, a passenger, Greg Osu, a Barrister, was allegedly manhandled by Governor Daniel’s aides while he watched unconcerned, indifferent. Here is how. Osu, like Daniel, had bought a Business Class ticket for the flight. In the sitting arrangement, from the ticket issued Osu, he was Daniel’s neighbour. I don’t know if Osu dressed shabbily, or if he was smelling, but as he sat by the governor, his aides, allegedly led by his Aide-de-Camp (ADC), didn’t feel that he was decent enough to sit by His Excellency. With his Business Class ticket, they asked him to leave the seat, and go to the economy section. Rightfully, he rejected that. It is his money, and he didn’t allocate the seat to himself. When they insisted, and said he was embarrassing the governor, he was aghast, and asked why the governor didn’t charter a plane if they didn’t want anybody to sit by him. Then, hell was let loose. They made to bundle him to the economy cabin, he resisted that, and an ear-deafening shouting bout ensued. It took the intervention of the Pilot for Osu to leave. Yet, Daniel’s aides were not satisfied. They threatened to deal with him on ground Lagos. They did. They dragged him to a police station. And you ask, for what offence? The good thing: Outraged passengers followed him to the station, where he was made to write a statement. Question: What was Daniel’s reaction? Nothing, Dear Readers, nothing. He sat there indifferently, and watched as Osu was being humiliated, and dehumanised by his unruly aides. Pray, what was Osu’s offence? I have read one stupid defence which claimed that Osu was looking at the governor’s papers, and, was drunk. Who certified him drunk? It was a morning flight. How could Osu, a lawyer, be drunk by that time of the day? And which papers was he looking at? Was Daniel working on a file in the aircraft? If he chose to work on sensitive documents in a public place, that is entirely his business, not Osu’s. The governors I see aboard aircrafts carry nothing. Their phones, files and, everything are held for them by their numerous aides.
Governor Daniel owes Osu and other passengers inside that aircraft a public apology. He should take responsibility for the alleged unruly behaviour of his aides. He should have called them to order, and asked Osu to ignore them, and sit on his allocated seat. But he kept quiet while his aides humiliated Osu. In case it has not occurred to Daniel, he was the person reduced to the gutter level by his aides. And now, back to Osu.
He has threatened to sue Daniel’s aides. He should do that quickly. But he should join the IRS, and its crew, in the suit. I’m surprised he left his seat in the first place. He shouldn’t have. He treated himself as a second-class citizen by giving up his seat, just so Daniel would sit alone. That was stupid. Osu’s experience is the height of intolerance. And it is a big shame.