It is no longer news that the case brought against Otunba Gbenga Daniel,former Ogun Governor, shortly after he left office, has been thrown out of court and judgement delivered,in his favour.
What is perhaps not known is what the man, whose admirers simply call OGD went through,over the case.
Citypeople can reveal authoritatively that for 11 harrowing and tempestuous years, the former Ogun State Governor, who is , a top flight Mechanical Engineer and a pioneer in Vertical and Horizontal engineering in Nigeria, marched through the dark tunnel of political persecution, strewn with thorns, bats and vampires.
This was the other side of an eventful, but innovative, political leadership of the Gateway State for 8 years.
He was credited with creative and ingenious firsts in many areas, like the establishment of the Tai Solarin University of Education, the creation of the multi campus system for the Olabisi Onabanjo University (the College of Engineering in Ibogun and the College of Agriculture in Aiyetoro), the establishment of four ICT Polytechnics Kesington Adebutu ICT Polytechnic, Saapade, Abraham Adesanya ICT Polytechnic, Ijebu Igbo, Dauda Adegbenro ICT Polytechnic, Ewekoro and the Senator Ayodeji Otegbola ICT Polytechnic, Igbesa).
He left office as the largest employer of workers into the state’s civil service, and especially in the Teaching Service with over 16,000 teachers through the Voluntary Teachers Scheme, the Traffic Complinace and Enforcement Agency (TRACE) amongst many other bold initiatives that turned the state around.
He revolutionised sporting developments with the building of 3 International stadia (in Ijebu Ode with a Games Village, Sagamu and Ilaro and upgraded the one in Abeokuta) with one of the best NYSC Orientation Camp in the country at a fraction of the expected costs
On the 29th of May 2011, Otunba Gbenga Daniel handed over the reins of government to his successor, and after securing the needed clearance from the Commissioner of Police, and the State Director, Department of State Security Service (DSS) in Ogun State, he must have been satisfied with his ingenious exploits as the man who took Ogun State out of the woods, from a sleepy Civil Servant State into a potential Industrial hub.
He had, during his stewardship created one of the most thriving Industrial Cluster zones, the Flowergate at the Abeokuta-Sagamu Interchange (which currently houses over 30 top rated multinational companies like Nestle Foods, International Breweries, Pearls, etc).
He created the Ogun/Guangdong Free Trade Zone in Igbesa, and initiated world class economic Drivers like the Agro-Cargo Airport in Ilishan, Remo and the Olokola Free Trade Zone (which had components of Deep Sea Port, Liquified Natural Gas- OKLNG, The Transportation Free Trade Zone in Ogun Central and several other life changing and economic turn around initiatives.
After handing over on 29th of May, 2011, looking back, he felt fulfilled,having turned around the fortunes of the state and positively impacting on the lives of many. He therefore decided to board the British Airways flight to London to rest from the stress of 8 years of hard work.
On arrival in London, barely yet settled in to his much needed rest, he started receiving several calls from concerned citizens about his whereabouts. It is also not unexpected, some of these calls have their own mischievous notes.They just wanted to confirm the speculations which was already flying around about his purported arrest in London.
He consulted with his family and Legal Team and they advised that he should return to the country to face whatever allegations that might have been raised against him. Not a man given to fear, especially living in the strong conviction that he has nothing untoward in his closet, Otunba Daniel heeded the advise of his family and legal team. That was the courage of a man whose life is about sacrifices, even at his most inconvenience. His entire eight (8) years of stewardship as the Governor of Ogun State (2003-2011) was a clear signpost of this. He jumped into the next available plane back to Nigeria.
On arrival, Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) swooped on his Sagamu, Ogun State residence and combing all areas for proofs of graft to no avail. He was therefore “invited” (a Nigerian euphemism for arrest in the Security parlance) first to their Lagos Office and then onward to their Headquarters in Abuja. And this was the painful start of the 13 days of hurtful detention that Daniel faced for serving Ogun State.
He was eventually arraigned with a 16-count charge on the 11th of October 2011.
But when these allegations fell flat in the face of the law and remained unproven, they were dropped, and the charges were amended to another 43 counts (mostly from forum shopping for evidences in the course of the trial) which then included false declaration of assets which were obtained during his incarceration in EFCC cell; Land Allocations and ‘underpayment’ of values to some institutions like churches (like Church of the Lord, for the establishment of their their University etc) and other business concerns.
Again, these charges could not be proven and fell flat in the face of the law. But this Daniel must come to Justice at all cost; so the charges went through another surgical operation and once again amended, and this time, substantially to another 38 counts (all these still in the course of the trial and evidences being gathered in the process as most, if not all of the Originating charges have been disposed off).
After over three years of trial, the EFCC finally amended and narrowed down to 32 counts of charges, mostly Land related matters.
The Prosecutor spent the better part of 8 years trying to build up its case and arguing same from 2011 until 2019. Most charges were drawn and evidence gathered in the cause of the trial and not before or during the Daniel administration.
Daniel’s legal team, led by the erudite Professor of Law and an authority on the Law of Evidence, Professor Taiwo Osipitan (leading other brilliant lawyers and Senior Advocates like Titi Akinlawon, SAN, Tayo Oyetibo, SAN, Yinka Kotoye, SAN, Seun Akinbiyi, Esq, Akin Osinbajo, SAN, Deji Eniseyin Esq,) did all they could to puncture every inch of the Prosecution’s arguments, dismantling evidences and discrediting their witnesses as not credible.
At the end of the EFCC’s 8-year efforts at trying to establish a prima facie case, the Defense Lawyers felt there were no sufficient grounds to enter into any defense because the prosecutor has not been able to prove their case. They therefore filed for a “No Case Submission”.
All their efforts yielded some fruits in 2019, as the Trial judge, Justice Lanre Mabekoje who had presided over the matter since 2011 at the Ogun State High Court knocked out 15 out of the 32-count charges, leaving Daniel to open his defence on the remaining 17 charges.
Not satisfied, Professor Taiwo Osipitan and his band of legal team proceeded to the Court of Appeal in Ibadan to challenge the remaining 17 charges, most of which are land related matters without any single or iota of Ogun State’s money missing or misappropriated.
On the 12th of April, 2022, the learned judges of the Court of Appeal in Ibadan unanimously (without a single dissenting judgement or minority ruling) found merits in the appeal, upheld all grounds of Daniel’s appeal and discharged him on all counts.
The rest they is now history.
