Otunba Gbenga Daniel; The Leopard

.....Comrade Olalekan Johnson

They say a leopard never changes its spots. In the jungle of Ogun politics, that leopard is none other than Otunba Gbenga Daniel, the former governor and current senator, whose career has been defined by betrayals, corruption allegations, and a bloody trail of political violence.

Gbenga Daniel first rose to prominence in 2003 under the wings of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the PDP machinery. Yet, true to character, he wasted no time turning against his benefactors. His falling-out with Obasanjo was bitter, and by 2011 he had abandoned the PDP, the very platform that gave him power, and decamped to the Labour Party, dragging along loyalists in what many described as one of the most destabilizing defections in Ogun’s history. That betrayal fractured the PDP, nearly handing over Ogun on a platter to the opposition.

Daniel’s story has always been about disloyalty. After his Labour Party misadventure collapsed, he shamelessly crawled back into relevance through the APC, disguising himself as a “progressive.” By 2023, he was rescued from political irrelevance by Governor Dapo Abiodun, who backed his senatorial ambition. But once again, Daniel has turned against his benefactor. Today, he is at war with the very man who revived his career, proving once more that to trust Gbenga Daniel is to invite betrayal.

The years between 2003 and 2011 remain some of the darkest in Ogun’s democratic history. Daniel’s tenure was marked by state-sponsored violence and political intolerance. The infamous “State Boys” his band of thugs drawn from cult groups and unemployed youths, were let loose on opponents.

In 2009, violent clashes in Sagamu, Ijebu-Ode, and Abeokuta left scores injured and properties destroyed, with opposition members openly accusing Daniel of sponsoring attacks. In 2010, during the height of his face-off with the Ogun State House of Assembly, his loyalists allegedly stormed the lawmakers’ quarters in Abeokuta, vandalizing property and unleashing mayhem in a bid to quash impeachment moves against him. Former legislators and party leaders lived under constant threat; journalists and civil society activists were harassed.

For Daniel, politics was never a contest of ideas, it was a battlefield where opponents were to be crushed, silenced, or co-opted. Ogun’s democracy paid a heavy price for his arrogance and violence.

If betrayal and violence defined his politics, corruption has long defined his reputation. In October 2011, not long after leaving office, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Gbenga Daniel on a 16-count charge of stealing and mismanagement of public funds amounting to over ?200 billion. He was accused of diverting state resources through shady contracts, illegal land deals, and abuse of office.

The charges included illegal sales of Ogun State property to cronies, siphoning state funds into private companies, and misappropriating local government allocations. Though Daniel wriggled through years of legal gymnastics, many Ogun indigenes remain convinced that his wealth and influence were built on the back of the state treasury. The corruption cloud over his name has never fully disappeared.

Now, Ogun is once again in the grip of Gbenga Daniel’s familiar chaos. His latest political imbroglio with Governor Dapo Abiodun has raised the specter of instability. By openly disobeying state orders, undermining government authority, and stoking division within the ruling APC, Daniel is dragging the state back to its old wounds.

To those who know his history, this is hardly surprising. Betrayal, lawlessness, and personal ambition have always been Daniel’s trademarks. The leopard is showing his spots again. And if Ogun fails to confront him, the state risks sliding into another era of instability, one that benefits no one but the leopard himself.

Gbenga Daniel is not just another politician. He is a master of betrayal, a man once arraigned for monumental corruption, and an architect of political violence. His career is a cautionary tale of how power without principle destroys both men and institutions.

For the people of Ogun, the question is simple: how many more times will they allow this leopard to prowl their politics before recognizing that his spots will never change?

Comrade Olalekan Johnson is the Secretary, Coalition for Good Governance, he writes from Ibafo, Ogun State.