Former Ogun  State Governor Gbenga Daniel yesterday defended his administration’s decision to concession the three Gateway Hotels, Olumo Rock, Remo Plantation, among others. He said it was done in the “best interest of the state.”

Daniel said all Governor Ibikunle Amosun told the people in his ‘state of the state account’ were “lies and concoctions of an overwhelmed governor.”
He said: “Amosun should concentrate on the real task of governance after one month of heat without motion.” Daniel spoke in a statement by ex-Commissioner of Information Sina Kawonise.

The former governor said the concession was carried “in line with the best practices under Private Public Partnership (PPP).” Kawonise said until the concessioning of the public assets under PPP, they existed as drain pipes unable to fulfil the objectives for which they were established by the state’s founding fathers.

He accused Amosun of “playing to the gallery and blaming his predecessor for what is now clearly his cluelessness in handling the affairs of the state.
“In the case of the Gateway Hotels, they could not meet the objectives for which they were set up and there was a need to reconsider government funding.
“To achieve this, the OGD administration opted to involve private investors in the management and/or ownership of the hotels.
“Due diligence and process were followed in all  the transactions.
“The move was intended to, among other objectives, ensure efficient management of the ventures and generate  higher returns and employment ,” Kawonise said.

The ex-commissioner cited the divestment of the Federal Government from its ownership of NICON NOGA Hotel, the Lagos local airport concession and the Lekki Expressway as examples. But Daniel remained silent on the allegation that his administration short-changed the state of N22billion  through the Bureau of Lands and Survey.

Amosun had in his address said the Bureau remitted less than what was possibly accruable from land sales and ratification in the eight years of the Daniel administration. His words: “The Land Use Act makes it mandatory for every state to have a Land Use Allocation Committee.
“But in the case of Ogun, due diligence and processes were not followed.
“There was a breach of the extant laws and an unacceptable abuse of official position.
“The revenue that ought to accrue to the state from the huge land allocations was at least N33.8 billion, if we use the Bureau rates.       
“In eight years, the last administration posted a meagre N10.9 billion for land allocation and N577 million for land ratification.”

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news-update/11042-daniel-defends-sales-of-public-assets.html

@OP,

The ex-commissioner of Information has come again to defend the untoward policies of his principal with so much pasion, one is almost hoodwinked into believing their rubbish. It is apparent what Ecstasy does to people, a frame of mind you believe people around you are dolts. If truly the concessions were in the interest of the people, do they need to be rushed or shrouded in so much secrecy?

The guy needs to go back to school to learn the finer arts of image management. Whitewashing a decrepit property is not the same as a renovation.

stormm:

@OP,

The ex-commissioner of Information has come again to defend the untoward policies of his principal with so much pasion, one is almost hoodwinked into believing their rubbish. It is apparent what Ecstasy does to people, a frame of mind you believe people around you are dolts. If truly the concessions were in the interest of the people, do they need to be rushed or shrouded in so much secrecy?

The guy needs to go back to school to learn the finer arts of image management. Whitewashing a decrepit property is not the same as a renovation.

Guy, take it easy!!! You cannot hate OGD more than I do but in this case, particularly on Olumo Rock and Gateway Hotels issue, Amosun is the daft person!

What OGD did was a concession and not an outright sale. From history, those places have never generated funds for the state. Rather they drain funds. It is logical and reasonable to put them up for concession. If you know the state of Gateway Hotels before the concession, you will have a change of mind. The hotels were treated like typical government properties lacking in proper management and at risk of dilapidation. Now about the process of concession being transparent or not, the degree of transparency will be as defined by the person assessing the process which in this case is Amosun. However, Amosun's biggest goof was to compare the concessioned sum to the valuation of those properties as if they are supposed to be on the same basis. For example, he said Gateway Hotel Ijebu-Ode was valued at N130m but was concessioned at N20m for 20years. Amosun as an accountant should know better that the price of the concession would be determined by so many factors: cost of revitalization, current debt profile, average cost of maintenance for the concessioned period, volume of business expected etc that has no bearing with the value of the property.

Enough of crying foul, the guy should just get down to serious governance. Amosun would have done the same thing if not worse than his devilish friend - OGD. They are birds of like feathers; very fetish and vindictive.

I don't even understand why a state government is owning hotels.

ekt_bear:

I don't even understand why a state government is owning hotels.

To make money for the state.

I'm not sure that a state investing in private business is the best idea. Better to let the private sector invest and make your money through taxing them, I think.

stormm:

@OP,

T[b]he ex-commissioner of Information has come again to defend the untoward policies of his principal with so much pasion, one is almost hoodwinked into believing their rubbish.[/b] It is apparent what Ecstasy does to people, a frame of  mind you believe people around you are dolts. If truly the concessions were in the interest of the people, do they need to be rushed or shrouded in so much secrecy?

The guy needs to go back to school to learn the finer arts of image management. Whitewashing a decrepit property is not the same as a renovation. 

Indeed. I cannot believe that any sane Nigerian can hold brief for OGD. They say action speaks louder than words. The entire World saw how OGD desperately used 9 lawmakers to illegally impeach 15 lawmakers just so he could get his 100 billion retirement fund bond !!!!!! Is it the same misruling OGD , constantly voted the worst Governor in Nigeria, some folks are now trying to hold brief for ? Abi some Nigerians have a memory deficit problem? Wonders will never end !!!!!

OGD stopped pretending to lead 5 years ago. Since then he totally embraced corruption , the persecution of dissenting voices and the self-aggrandizement of himself and his cronies. I can't believe folks are this quick to forget the gross misrule of OGD to actually begin speaking in his favour . What a strange nation ours is .

Gbawe:

The entire World saw how OGD desperately used 9 lawmakers to illegally impeach 15 lawmakers just so he could get his 100 billion retirement fund bond !!!!!!

Point of correction: The action was not illegal. The court declared it legal. It only seems illogical.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/jonathan-daniel-and-ogun-lawmakers/73858/

Indeed. I cannot believe that any sane Nigerian can hold brief for OGD. They say action speaks louder than words. The entire World saw how OGD desperately used 9 lawmakers to illegally impeach 15 lawmakers just so he could get his 100 billion retirement fund bond !!!!!! it is this same character some folks are now trying to hold brief for ? Wonders will never end !!!!!

OGD stopped pretending to lead 5 years ago. Since then he totally embraced corruption , the persecution of dissenting voices and the self-aggrandizement of himself and his cronies. I can't believe folks are this quick to forget the gross misrule of OGD to actually begin speaking in his favour . What a strange nation ours is .

Nobody is talking of other OGD’s activities in government, what we are saying is concessionring is an accepted form of alternative administering of failed and wobbly state owned enterprises.

Like the Assistant said the new Governor of Ogun State should go and ask his ‘God Father’ in Lagos what the concept is all about. So long ‘OGD’ who is a crook anyway did not give the concession to his family members I don’t see a case in it, rather it is the ‘God Father’ in Lagos who has some serious conflict of interest issues going on in his backyard by passing almost every elective post in Lagos State to family members

X-factoria:

Point of correction: The action was not illegal. The court declared it legal. It only seems illogical.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/jonathan-daniel-and-ogun-lawmakers/73858/

Our judiciary is one of the most corrupt in the universe. our judiciary is very amenable to being bought over by the powers-that-be. We all saw how a Nigerian Court cleared James Ibori , the main defendant, of over a 100 charges of corruption while his co-defendants, all lesser offenders, were jailed in the UK. Let us see if Ibori himself will now be similarly "cleared" in the UK as happened in Nigeria. Go back and read the opinion of many legal expert , to include the likes of Femi Falana, who pronounced the Ogun state impeachment debacle as illegal. the illegality of what the 9 lawmakers did is not a point worth belaboring regardless of what any Kangaroo court says.  Is it today our Politicians began getting corrupt judges to issue injunction preventing their arrest, questioning and prosecution after they are out of office and no longer enjoy immunity? Remember Odili?


http://thenewsafrica.com/2010/09/20/anarchy-looms/

Anarchy Looms In Ogun State

In  addition, it was also resolved that the state Commissioner of Police should arrest and  prosecute members of the House[b] that sat illegally on 6 September and purportedly changed the  leadership of the House as well as nullifying the decisions taken at the meeting.[/b]

The sitting was a response to the widely condemned sitting of 6 September, at which nine  members of the House loyal to Daniel and two others serving suspension, broke into the  Assembly Complex in Abeokuta at dawn, announced a change of leadership and approved the  N100billion bond the state government had sought–unsuccessfully–to access. The illegitimate  sitting also approved a supplementary budget of N26billion.

The G-15 has been stridently opposed to the bond, describing it as a route bondage. It also  questioned the rationale for it, as the government failed to disclose the debt profile of  the state. The executive arm was challenged to a public debate, which it reluctantly  accepted to participate in. Two days to the debate, minority House members, nudged by  Daniel, manufactured a leadership change while the House was effectively on recess. The  G-15, led by the Speaker, Tunji Egbetokun, described the action of the G-9 as a comedy.

Two lawyers explained that the sitting of the  G-15 last Tuesday was illegal. [b]According to Femi Falana and Bamidele Aturu, it has been  resolved by the Supreme Court that a sitting outside of the Assembly Complex is a nullity.  [/b]Aturu, however, added that the illegal sitting was provoked by an illegitimate one–that of 6  September. “The way things are going in Ogun State, it’s unfortunate that a state of  emergency might be declared,” he warned.

KnowAll:




Nobody is talking of other OGD’s activities in government, what we are saying is concessionring is an accepted form of alternative administering of failed and wobbly state owned enterprises.

Like the Assistant said the new Governor of Ogun State should go and ask his ‘God Father’ in Lagos what the concept is all about. So long ‘OGD’ who is a crook anyway did not give the concession to his family members I don’t see a case in it, rather it is the ‘God Father’ in Lagos who has some serious conflict of interest issues going on in his backyard by passing almost every elective post in Lagos State to family members

Ever heard of cronies and minions? Is it only family members that help our leaders perpetrate concession fraud? Did Cecilia Ibru not give billions in unsecured loans to her PA? Abeg talk better my brother . the 'modus operandi' of our fraudulent leaders should be obvious to you.

I don't see why , for the sake of a debate , you suggest what everyone can agree is erroneous and not borne out by actual history. Even non-Nigerians (Lebanese, Indians et al) will 'win' concessions if they will 'settle' the politician who conceded State Asset to them non-transparently and cheaply. It is a scam virtually as old as prostitution !!! You forget that OBJ , shortly before he left office, went into a concession frenzy. He even conceded Refineries to Otedola and Dangote (two men not related to him) for pittance only for the deals to be reversed by Yar Adua!!!!!!

Gbawe:

Our judiciary is one of the most corrupt in the universe. our judiciary is very amenable to being bought over by the powers-that-be. We all saw how a Nigerian Court cleared James Ibori , the main defendant, of over a 100 charges of corruption while his co-defendants, all lesser offenders, were jailed in the UK. Let us see if Ibori himself will now be similarly "cleared" in the UK as happened in Nigeria. Go back and read the opinion of many legal expert , to include the likes of Femi Falana, who pronounced the Ogun state impeachment debacle as illegal. the illegality of what the 9 lawmakers did is not a point worth belaboring regardless of what any Kangaroo court says. Is it today our Politicians began getting corrupt judges to issue injunction preventing their arrest, questioning and prosecution after they are out of office and no longer enjoy immunity? Remember Odili?


http://thenewsafrica.com/2010/09/20/anarchy-looms/

I agree with you on the corruption madness in the Judiciary. Odili's case is the worst judgement in the world; an injunction against investigation, interrogation and prosecution!!!!! It defies all known logic.

However, you godfather Tinubu and his ACN are also an accomplice! It is becoming clearer how they bought judgement of Ekiti and Osun from Justice Ayo Salami!!!

X-factoria:

I agree with you on the corruption madness in the Judiciary. Odili's case is the worst judgement in the world; an injunction against investigation, interrogation and prosecution!!!!! It defies all known logic.

However, you godfather Tinubu and his ACN are also an accomplice! It is becoming clearer how they bought judgement of Ekiti and Osun from Justice Ayo Salami!!!

Not proven at all. The entire world , for example, saw the criminality of the PDP during the Ekiti rerun in 2009. Given what you saw, do you think Oni beat Fayemi? No other result would have been fair or tenable other than the declaration of victory for Fayemi. Katsina-Alu was also alleged to have 'delivered' a win for Yar Adua when Buhari petitioned the court against the 2007 victory of our former President so what is your point ?

Abeg let us not go around in circles or drift from the topic under discussion. The point is that OGD directly instigated legislative gangaterism to get his N100 billion retirement fund bond. He has not even pretended  , since the first day of his second term, to lead Ogun State progressively at all. With such consistently desperate behaviour not many will conclude that such a man will concede state asset transparently and without cynical opportunism influencing his deeds. No Lawyer will go to court arguing in favour of giving a serial burglar the benefit of the doubt because he is "incapable of breaking into a house".

In ecclectic situations of this nature, the best impact u can make to aplomb in the hurdle, is to take actions to send home ur points. Since, the accuser has decided not to incriminate the accused, why is he being superfluously garrulous? If i were to be ogd, i will the amosun bloke for defamation of character and libel. What's expected of amosun is to come along and probe ogd, instead of making empty noise, all in the verge of clearing coast for his covert plans.

Whether ACN bought the judgement in Ekiti State or not misses the point. PDP never won the election there to begin with. And I say this as a man whose town voted PDP in the 2007 election (to my shame)

Gbawe:

Our judiciary is one of the most corrupt in the universe.

that is what some people have been saying about ACN victories won at the tribunals.

Gbawe:

Not proven at all. The entire world , for example, saw the criminality of the PDP during the Ekiti rerun in 2009. Given what you saw, do you think Oni beat Fayemi? No other result would have been fair or tenable other than the declaration of victory for Fayemi. Katsina-Alu was also alleged to have 'delivered' a win for Yar Adua when Buhari petitioned the court against the 2007 victory of our former President so what is your point ?

Abeg let us not go around in circles or drift from the topic under discussion. The point is that OGD directly instigated legislative gangaterism to get his N100 billion retirement fund bond. He has not even pretended , since the first day of his second term, to lead Ogun State progressively at all. With such consistently desperate behaviour not many will conclude that such a man will concede state asset transparently and without cynical opportunism influencing his deeds. No Lawyer will go to court arguing in favour of giving a serial burglar the benefit of the doubt because he is "incapable of breaking into a house".

unlike Jarus, you will make a good politician.
you are perfecting the art very well.
well done.

X-factoria:

I agree with you on the corruption madness in the Judiciary. Odili's case is the worst judgement in the world; an injunction against investigation, interrogation and prosecution!!!!! It defies all known logic.

what has logic got to do with it.
His wife is a supreme court judge for crying out loud.
this is naija men!

X-factoria:

Guy, take it easy!!!

X-factoria,

I'm still trying to fathom what your issues are. Are you saying other options have been tried before the concessioning or that the so called PPP arrngement wsa not in any way untoward? 1) Ogun State govt house VI was liaison office, sure provisions were made to the upkeep like the Abuja liaison office. But what sold/concessioned for peanuts. The house is on Ahmadu Bello Way, opposite the Bar beach. Apoje Palm Oil Mills; A farm settlement the govt NEVER invested a kobo into, generates enough revenue for its upkeep. My parents were distributors of Palm Oil from Apoje. End result -b concessioned. Gateway Hotel Ijebu Ode: Concessioned for N20m for a whole of 25 years.

Now convince me, economic brigandage or unbundling in-efficiency?

Now, more to the point, I dont just hate Mr. Gbenga, I detest him with an unfathomable passion. I hate his person, I detest his politics. He unleashed a savagery in Ogun State that turned a normally sane dude into an animal. Imagine a situation where you suddenly see your guy carrying a gun, savagely threatening peeps you are with, turned the traditional institution you revered into a kind of joke, made the state into a situation of anomy.

no regrets on Dani Elebo(apologies Prof Soyinka)