Daily Independent (Lagos)
Austin Oboh
3 July 2009
analysis
Lagos — The longstanding disagreement between Ogun State Governor, Gbenga Daniel, and the G15 lawmakers in the State House of Assembly finally bubbled over during the week.
Nude photographs of Honourable Wale Alausa, representing Ijebu-Ode Constituency in the Assembly, were published in a national newspaper claiming to be photos taken at an oath-taking rite by the G15 members in the Ogun State House of Assembly. According to the report, the members took the oath to remain firm and united against Daniel.
Soon after the publication of the story, the man in the eye of the storm, Alausa, called a press conference at the International Press Centre in Ogba, Lagos. He also issued a press statement that presented a detailed account of Daniel's involvement in the supposed oath-taking ritual. Alausa turned the tables on the governor, saying Daniel forced him to take an oath in 2007. As it is at the moment, Alausa has not fallen into disgrace alone; he has taken many others along with him, including the governor. 'He that is down need fear no fall' so goes an English proverb. Alausa and other members of the G15 are determined to say it all and though Governor Daniel may usually look calm and smiling, he may be extremely ruffled this time.
The newspaper report of the fetish oath-taking was headlined 'Ogun G15 Lawmakers In Blood Oath Scandal.' Here are excerpts of the report: "The crisis in Ogun State involving G 15 members of the House of Assembly was triggered by a blood oath taken at a shrine in Ijebu-Igbo, Ijebu North Local Government, last year. The members took the oath to ensure a united front against Governor Gbenga Daniel.
"The oath was sponsored by some politicians including the father of a prominent politician in Abuja, a senator, a former South West governor, a former minister and another prominent politician in Ogun State. The oath, which was taken naked by the members and in daylight, was witnessed by the sponsors and the native doctors, the administrators of the oath. Items used for the oath included blood, cow heads, calabash and other fetish materials. Each participant swore to upholding opposition to Daniel at all times and submitted to the death of their first born, should they renege on the oath. Each of them was required to mention the name of their first child in the course of the oath, setting in motion serious consequences for the children should their fathers go back on the prescribed course of opposition."
The finality of this oath is why prominent traditional rulers such as the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona; the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo; the Akarigbo of Remoland, Oba Michael Sonariwo, and other prominent leaders such as Prince Bola Ajibola, General Tunji Olurin and Yeye Oodua H.I.D. Awolowo were unable to persuade them to change their stance against Daniel, according to the paper.
It was also reported that the photographs were taken by the initiators of the oath to blackmail the G15 members and prevent them from reneging. The newspaper said it obtained some of the photographs following a disagreement in the camp of the initiators. The paper quoted a source who knew the beginning of the story. The source reportedly said: "It is because of the oath that the crisis in the state has been protracted. They have vowed that nobody or nothing will stop them from achieving their goal, which is to impeach the governor and make the state ungovernable.
This lawmaker called Alausa was jobless when his father, Alhaji Agboola Alausa, took him to the governor and the governor made him a special assistant in the office of the deputy governor. Even when he was working with Alhaja Salmot Badru, the deputy governor was not happy with him because of the various scandals he was involved in. In 2007, the father also begged that he should be made a lawmaker and the state PDP respected his view by giving the Ijebu-Ode State Constituency to his son. But since Wale Alausa and other members of the G15 seized the Assembly in a coup last year, peace has eluded the state. That is why they are blocking the N50 billion bond and embarrassing members of the executive under the cover of oversight functions."
Indeed, Alausa confessed to journalists that the published photographs were genuine but that they were taken in 2007 inside Daniel's Sagamu mansion and its environs when he was forced to take an oath before he could get the PDP ticket to the state House of Assembly. The lawmaker said he and his colleagues (G15) never took any oath and neither did they visit any shrine in Ijebu-Igbo to take an oath, adding that it was pure blackmail by Daniel to stop the House from carrying out its oversight functions.
Alausa's side of the story is worth capturing extensively.
"I was a very vibrant member of the Group of 15 credible legislators who declared through our removal of Hon. Titilayo Oseni as speaker last year that we've had enough of civilian dictatorship in Ogun State. We stood our ground despite physical and spiritual threats to our lives. We were called names. They even said we took money from the former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to effect Oseni's removal. But to God be the glory that the people of Ogun State and Nigerians interested in the affairs of our state have seen through that falsehood.
"Now, back to the issue of Omo Ale. It may surprise you to know that my father is the chairman of the Ogun East Senatorial District of the PDP. He is a well-respected titleholder as Otun Balogun of Ijebuland. Following our action against Oseni last year, pressure was mounted on my father to prevail on me to withdraw my support for the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Tunji Egbetokun. My father knows he has a principled son. His response to Otunba Gbenga Daniel each time such pressure came was that his son is an adult with a family of his own, who is able to take decisions without recourse to him.
"However, when the pressures on my father became too much, he became the butt of jokes in party circles. It was as if he could not control his son. Suddenly, a non-existent Ogun East Elders Council was formed by Otunba Gbenga Daniel to usurp the functions of the constitutionally recognised Ogun East Senatorial District Executive headed by my father. Daddy was thoroughly disgraced wherever he went in the state by agents of Otunba Gbenga Daniel. Nevertheless, he did not budge. He left me to decide what is best for my constituency without putting any pressure on me.
"But the involvement of our royal father, the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, by Otunba Gbenga Daniel, I believe, made my father bend a rule, which he imbibed in us from childhood that, once we believe in something we should face it squarely without fear of anyone except Almighty Allah (SWT).
"You may want to check past editions of your newspapers to confirm what I am about to say. Somewhere along the line, the G-15 became G-14. This was celebrated in Otunba Gbenga Daniel's newspaper as well as others without mentioning my name. But I hereby confess I was the one who left the group to pledge allegiance to the governor following the untold pressure on my dad, especially the need to respect our royal father. The condition of pledging allegiance to Otunba Gbenga Daniel was humiliating, but before the Almighty Allah who created me, I stuck to my guns that unless he also took the same oath, I will refuse to do so.
"You might then wonder how the photograph came about. Long before then, especially before the 2007 elections, shortly after the party primaries, Otunba Gbenga Daniel had ensured that most, if not all those seeking elective offices, took the oath of allegiance to him.
"You can ask your colleagues in Ogun State, if they are honest, they will also tell you that there is no council chairman that did not take the oath before their elections. But at that time, they knew my background and they knew such a thing could not be forced on me because the role I'll play in the election will even be more than all of them combined together. So, I was left alone. But it was my dad they believed will hold me anytime they want.
One thing I thank God for is that the confidence of my colleagues, which I betrayed because I do not want to be labelled an 'Omo Ale,' has been restored by God Himself.Alausa's side of the story is worth capturing extensively.
"Because how can one explain Otunba Gbenga Daniel's release of a photograph he took deceitfully? I know he has been angry because he expected I'll return to the G15 and begin passing details of our meetings to him. But I refused.
"The oath I took was to the effect that I will not be among those who will impeach him from office. It did not include spying on my colleagues. Part of the argument was that as an Ijebu, I should not allow the Egba to disgrace our son, Otunba Gbenga Daniel.
I agreed after that pressure from my dad. But it was a reluctant decision, which I made as a dutiful Yoruba son to a father who has been everything to me.
"In addition, if he feels my principled support for Resolution 167 of the Ogun State House of Assembly along with a credible performance of my oversight function is a basis for this failed attempt to cow me into submission through blackmail, he has got a wrong person at the end of his hook. No intimidation, harassment or blackmail of any kind can make me conspire with him in his despicable attempt to plunge our dear state into perpetual bondage."
Daniel and Adetona have denied Alausa's claims that they played a role in his swearing to a oath. They both spoke through their aides.
Many observers would reject Alausa's many excuses because his involvement in such demeaning fetishism as he was photographed participating in belies the respect usually accorded his legislative position. Equally unflattering is the role, which Daniel has purportedly played in the whole affair. It would be futile for the governor to separate himself from the smear. This is a dent too many on the reputation of the governor, who was captured in a recent newspaper photograph sitting atop a stuffed lion in his home.
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