Following two terms of office in which he impoverished Ogun State by milking it of almost all of its resources, Governor Gbenga Daniel has now embarked on desperate measures to militarize the state.
Following two terms of office in which he impoverished Ogun State by milking it of almost all of its resources, Governor Gbenga Daniel has now embarked on desperate measures to militarize the state.
Yesterday’s purported removal of the Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly, Samson Tunji Egbetokun, by a tiny minority of nine members of the House has peaked months of criminal politicking in the state. The State’s House of Assembly has 26 lawmakers, and the “removal” of the Speaker—in a ceremony beginning at 7 a.m., using a borrowed mace, and with only nine members—sounds like a civilian coup.
Before the removal of the speaker, Ogun State had already degenerated into a dangerous political expression where opposition figures complain about death squads. The death, recently, of a top opposition politician, Dipo Dina, confirmed the dangerous nature of the governor of the state, known to be intolerant of opposition.
Mr. Daniel is also known to be interested in raising N100 billion loan from the highly volatile Nigeria capital market. That exercise would certainly mortgage the future of the state, as it would the state treasury in the hands of loan sharks in the form of banks waiting in the wings to take control of its purse for a prolonged period of time.
It is even more criminal that the governor would be leaving office in a few months. Sources knowledgeable about his tactics said his strategy is clearly to empty the state treasury before his departure from office. Further, Mr. Daniel would be buying himself political immunity by moving to the Senate, the same strategy that has helped shield his “retired” colleagues who were involved in large-scale looting of their states by the end of their term in 2007.
