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Daniel versus Osoba: Intrigues before the face-off
By
Felix Ofou,
Group Politics Editor
For about six months, altercations between former
Governor of Ogun State Olusegun Osoba and the incumbent Gbenga Daniel had
reduced to a barest minimum. At best, one could say that the face-off had
receded almost to a cold war. Unlike the days following Osoba’s handing
over to Daniel when there was throwing of tantrums and aides of both men
squared on the pages of newspapers, the situation was rather calm, although one
could argue that what existed was the peace of the graveyard. It was either
that the two political gladiators were tired or that concerns by well-meaning
Nigerians, particularly those from Ogun State, forced them to retreat to their
caves.
But the breaking out of hostilities last week once
more brought to the fore the ensuing battle for control of the state by Osoba
and Daniel. It is therefore not surprising that both politicians have tried to
gain advantage over the other using the latest crisis as springboard for advancing
their individual or personal ambitions.
The ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and
the Alliance for Democracy (AD) have not also been left out in their bids to
gain control of the state, although it must be quickly pointed out that for the
latter, internal wrangling remains a major set-back. What cannot be denied,
however, is the fact that the die had been cast between the PDP and AD before
last week’s crisis broke.
Revisiting
the Ilaro mayhem
While the motive for last Tuesday’s attack on
Governor Daniel and his wife remains a subject of controversy, there seems to
be no dispute as to what actually happened that day. If at all, accounts by
both parties seem to reinforce what the truth may be. Except that the rebuttal
by the Students Union of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, could be said to
contain certain contradictions requiring further investigations. The police and
the State Security Service also have critical roles to play in unraveling what
transpired on the said day.
Investigations showed, however, that for about three
months, students of the higher institution had been without electricity, a fact
that had flared tempers to no end. Pleas to the authorities to come to their
rescue had fallen on deaf ears, more so when examinations were said to be fast
approaching.
Last Tuesday, the students were said to have visited
their anger on the convoy of the wife of the governor while on her way to
Iwoye, a nearby community, for child de-worming exercise on the platform of the
Gateway Front Foundation of which she is the chairperson.
As news of the attack and subsequent escape of the
governor’s wife filtered into Abeokuta, the state capital, it was a
disturbed Daniel who received the report. Of course, the governor was
reportedly disturbed by this seeming affront, giving his relative acceptance by
citizens of the state, especially by the critical segment of society. Again,
his convoy was attacked and he had to personally intervene to prevent security
details in his convoy from shooting the miscreants and students said to have
led the offensive.
Interestingly, Osoba was said to have presided over a
meeting of the AD at the house of the late Senator Afolabi Olabimtan also at
Ilaro same day. So far, no one has told us what transpired at the political
gathering. Neither has any of the reporters said to have attended the event
filed in a report. So, what we have to rely on is a matter of conjecture.
In his own submission, Daniel told sympathisers that
his convoy got to Ilaro about the same time Osoba was leaving Ilaro. But the
former governor has since countered the claim that he left the town two hours
before the said students struck. What is not in dispute is the fact that the
governor and his wife were attacked.
However, it may be pertinent to ask why Daniel and
Yeye Funke were singled out, considering that the polytechnic is a federal
institution. Then there is also the issue of who informed the students that the
governor’s wife was likely to pass through that route at that particular
time to consider. Was it a planned or spontaneous attack?
As if to lend credence to the conspiracy theory,
Daniel told sympathisers who thronged the Okegbein Government Lodge on
solidarity visit that there was also insider connivance apart from Osoba who
reportedly financed and sanctioned the attack. “External death does not
strike unless there is an insider connivance; the betrayer is within. The enemy
is at the door”, he was quoted to have told the mammoth crowd that
gathered subsequently after the news of the attack filtered to town.
Unfortunately, three students were said to have lost
their lives and four more injured as a result of continued protests the next
day, a claim, which the police authorities have denied. But, the fact that the
names of the deceased have been made public meant there must be truth in the
assertion after all. Again, we are at a loss as to how to rationalise the
action of the students since the protests continued while the leadership was in
Abeokuta trying to convince the governor that they could not have supported the
course of violence against Daniel who reportedly gave them a bus to ameliorate
inter-city transport from their campus.
Stirring
of the hornet’s nest
What finally snowballed into a major crisis was
kick-started by series of interviews granted by Ogbeni Lanre Banjo, the United
States-based governorship candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP)
wherein several projects of the Daniel administration were flawed. The belief
from the Daniel’s camp was that Banjo was not so much a politician and
could not have embarked on such scathing criticism if not instigated. Of
course, fingers were pointed in the direction of Osoba.
Giving that the former governor has become associated
as traditional foe of the incumbent, the belief is that Ogbeni Banjo was
propped up to serve as fall guy for any intended attack on Governor Daniel. And
the fact that the NCP candidate flagged off his tirades while Osoba was abroad
gave further credence to this theory.
Among the accusations labeled against Daniel was his
alleged refusal to pay Osoba and other public office holders their gratuities
and severance benefits. Banjo also indicated that only those who agreed to
defect from the AD to PDP have so far been paid.
In countering the claim, Secretary to the State
Government (SSG), Alhaji Sharafa Tajudeen Ishola, told Daily Independent in an
interview that Banjo’s suggestion was contrived and far from the reality.
He wondered how the NCP candidate came up with such ‘tissue of fallacies’.
According to him, Osoba with others had been paid
their entitlements based on the existing law. Other principal beneficiaries
listed by the SSG include Alhaji Gbenga Kaka and Alhaji Rafiu Ogunleye,
Osoba’s deputy during his first term as governor in between 1991 and 1993.
“The law prescribing that public officers
should be paid severance gratuities was promulgated by the Osoba regime. But he
did not pay anyone before leaving office. In fact, the former governor did not
include the gratuities and pensions of former public office holders as part of
the liabilities to be inherited by Governor Gbenga Daniel. Yet, the governor
did not hesitate in approving that it should be paid”, he disclosed.
Ishola produced documents to back the claim
indicating that about N43 million had been paid to former public office
holders, including Osoba with a balance of N10 million to be paid in two
instalments.
In the case of Osoba, one Mrs Iyabo Akindele directed
to collect on his behalf is shown to have signed as proof of collecting the
entitlement with September 30th as her last time of doing so.
Perhaps more significant is the plight of Chief Sesan
Soluade who was deputy to Chief Bisi Onabanjo, governor of Ogun State until the
military struck on December 31, 1983. The old man was said to be ineligible to
benefit from the largesse on account of the fact that the law prescribes that
he ought to have completed his tenure. Alhaji Ogunleye also fell in this
category. But the governor, according to the SSG, equally directed that they
should be paid.
Alhaji Ishola debunked insinuations that
beneficiaries were compelled to first cross to the PDP to become eligible,
pointing out that, even close confidants of Osoba, former commissioners in the
last administrations and aides, have all been paid. “Some of those paid
are still in the AD and remain strong critics of the government. So how could
anyone say that Daniel is compelling anyone to join the PDP?” he asked.
As against claims that the PDP was forcing people to
join its ranks, the SSG argues that it is Daniel’s magnanimity and large
heartedness that has attracted the citizenry, including former critics, to its
fold. “People are not blind. They are not ignorant. They knew what
obtained before we came - that you could not get anything unless you
support the government. But all this has changed. Our emphasis is in providing
for the greater good irrespective of political affiliations,” he added.
Similarly, he picked holes in Banjo’s
suggestion that the Ogun Road Maintenance Agency (OGROMA) was set up as avenue
for siphoning money from the system and that road repairs and construction by
Daniel has been less than satisfactory.
“I don’t know how Ogbeni Banjo is able to
draw conclusions from things he knows nothing about and has not bothered to
find out about, because I am sure that if he had cared to find out the truth,
he would have been duly enlightened.
“OGROMA, if you must know, is not really the
brain work of the governor. It was suggested by the transition technical
committee headed by Major General Opaleye based on a World Bank study, which
indicated that roads could be better maintained through direct intervention
instead of relying on contractors.
“Fortunately for us, Ogun State is blessed in
having a son that is respected all over the country for his experience and
expertise in direct labour activities in the person of Engineer Kehinde Osikoya
who, if you may recall, was in charge of the Direct Labour Agency (DLA) in
Lagos State. So, all the governor did was to put a square peg in a square hole.
“In any case, nobody, apart from civil
servants, is in OGROMA. Everyone there is from the ministry. So it’s not
true that we have set up a parallel body as claimed by Ogbeni Banjo,” he
declared.
Of course, the fact that the PDP roundly floored the
AD at the March 27th Local Government polls has also pitched Daniel and Osoba
against the other, because the expectation was that the erstwhile governor
would be able to rally forces to counter his surprise ouster from office.
Osoba,
Kaka imbroglio
Perhaps no other factor has created as much rift as
the sudden volte-face by Osoba’s former deputy, Alhaji Kaka. The thinking
as far as Osoba’s camp is concerned is that Kaka decided to kick against
his former boss at the instance of the incumbent governor. So deep-seated is
the difference between both men that they have pitched tent with separate camps
in the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, and the AD.
Whereas Osoba belongs to Tinubu’s group and by
extension, Fasanmi-led faction of the Afenifere, Kaka has remained with Reuben
Fasoranti. In the AD, Osoba is with Chief Bisi Akande and Kaka has vowed to
stand by Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa.
The implication is that the AD has remained polarised
in the state, unable to respond to unfolding developments, particularly from the
rival PDP. Could the largely lame-duck posture of the AD have been deliberately
engineered by Daniel to make it ineffective?
Two aides of the former governor do not think so. Mr
Wole Elegbede, Chief Press Secretary and Barrister Abeeb Ajayi, former chief
whip in the immediate past House of Assembly and a known ally of the former
governor in separate interviews disclosed that there was no love lost between
Osoba and Kaka.
Elegbede traced the genesis of the problem to the
fact that Kaka was imposed on Osoba against the latter’s wish, while
Ajayi revealed that as a result of the crisis of confidence between the former
governor and his deputy that the AD had become ‘totally
fragmented’.
Undoubtedly, it is this pitching of camps and the
bitter rivalry between Osoba and Kaka that made the latter to distance himself
from attempts to link him to falsehoods allegedly being paraded by agents of
his former boss.
Implications
of Osoba’s arrest
Expectedly, there has been uproar since the reported
arrest and subsequent granting of bail to Osoba by the police in Lagos. The
arrest said to have been effected at the instance of the Assistant Inspector
General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone II, Onikan was intended to get the
former governor’s side of the story following complaints by the state
government.
But, what may have been a routine exercise was blown
by the demand for a N50 million surety before the police could grant bail.
Since the governor was allowed to go home on personal recognition, the bail
bond signed was an unnecessary demand, which Osoba rightly capitalised on.
Except of course, if the police found out from their preliminary investigation
that they had prima facie evidence against him, in which case there would have
been no need to let him go in the first place.
But if the intention was to let the man know who was
now in charge, then the bail caveat could have been well directed. To give vent
to this theory, the reaction of Daniel is instructive in this direction.
“I think it must be sounded loud and clear that the law cannot be a
respecter of persons. We can be patient as a government because we believe in
peace, we believe in law and order. But, when the chips are down, when people
go beyond the line of law, the law must take its course”, he declared.
On his part, Osoba countered thus: “If I want
to organise some riot and crime, would I be so stupid to stay in the same
environment for good four hours? Do I not have the right to have peace of mind?
If at the end of the investigation, they find nothing wrong, we will go to
court.”
It is clearly a manifestation of the ensuing
power-game between the two political gladiators.
Is
the war over?
It is not likely that we have seen or heard the last
about the bitter rivalry between Daniel and Osoba. This is because what is at
stake is the struggle for control of the state, Osoba had been known to be in
charge of political structures before now, including during the military era.
He is known to be in charge of a political machine that is formidable. But that
structure was challenged and defeated by Daniel in the 2003 polls, although
there are still contentions as to whether he won fair and square.
Already, there are talks about Daniel going for a
second term in 2007. His performance so far in office is said to have put him
in good stead for the job ahead. While the incumbent has not formally given nod
to the plan, his machine is said to have been oiled to kick-start the process
towards achieving the objective.
On his
part, Osoba is believed to have drawn the line as far as running for an
elective office is concerned. Close aides insist that whereas he may be
interested in who becomes governor in 2007, that his ambition is now restricted
to seeking appointments into public office.
But no matter what lies ahead, it is instructive that
the two political gladiators are bound to recede into their camps. Obviously,
they have learnt the vital lessons, even if they would not own up to their
mistakes. Either way, it is doubtful if the last has been heard of the current
storm in the cup.
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