Posted by By TOPE ADEBOBOYE on
Ogun State governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, on Monday allayed fears that the recent disqualification of Vice President Atiku Abubakar from next month's presidential election might cause a crisis in the country, saying the election would hold as planned.
Ogun State governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, on Monday allayed fears that the recent disqualification of Vice President Atiku Abubakar from next month's presidential election might cause a crisis in the country, saying the election would hold as planned.
Speaking during a courtesy visit to The Sun Publishing Limited, Daniel attributed Atiku's disqualification by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to his indictment by an administrative panel constitutionally set up by the Federal government and expressed satisfaction that the vice president had taken his case before the judiciary.
Justifying the Federal Government's threat to decisively deal with those planning to foment trouble during the polls, Daniel said the oath taken by an elected president or governor was to preserve the rule of law, explaining that no leader would sit by and watch his domain descend into anarchy.
"No individual, no matter how highly placed, is bigger than the state. If people threaten the peace, government needs to talk tough. Let's not aggravate the situation by making threats against the state. The judiciary has been there and this government has always complied with the order of the judiciary," he said.
The governor, who denied that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had been imposing candidates on the people, berated opposition parties for heaping all the blames in the country on the PDP, which, according to him, currently runs about 80 per cent of the nation.
On his performance in Ogun State, Daniel said his administration had affected people's lives in a positive way, having brought immense development in areas of electricity generation, tourism development and by attracting foreign and local investment to the state.
According to the governor, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had never found anything amiss in Ogun State's finances, saying he had completed every project started by his administration without overpricing any.
"At a time, the president commissioned 30 projects in one day out of about 88 that were lined up for him," he said.
Daniel accused his opponents of deliberately misleading the press over President Obasanjo's alleged reference to him as the "devil we know," saying the phrase was quoted out of context.
"What the president said, ‘the devil we know is better than the angel we don't know,' is a statement of endorsement. In all my years as Ogun State governor, President Obasanjo has never openly said anything negative about me. It is absurd that he would be saying something bad about me while he is endorsing me," Daniel said.
The governor, who claimed to have raised the internally generated revenue in his state from N150 million to N650 million, without raising taxes, said he had been relentlessly targeted by his opponents because of his refusal to allow the looting of the state's treasury.
He urged the media to investigate and confirm all allegations against his government and his person before rushing to the press.
Daniel, who attributed the enormous successes so far recorded by The Sun newspapers in its few years of operations to a high degree of professionalism and seriousness, also praised the newspaper's Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, Mr Mike Awoyinfa, and the Deputy Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief, Mr Dimgba Igwe, describing the relationship between the duo as commendable.
• Watch out for full text of the interview with Gov Daniel