• Sun. Feb 9th, 2025

OTUNBA GBENGA DANIEL: The Return Of A King Who Deserves The Accolades

ByOluwaponmile Awokoya

Mar 9, 2022

Just like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) remains a great fantasy genre until this present day due to the grandeur of its life-packed actions and unforgettable moments.

The emergence of Otunba (Engr) Gbenga Daniel into the political front as the governor of Ogun State since the 2003 governorship campaign, remains an unforgettable feat.

His arrival as the governor-elect in 2004 did not only transform the gateway state but also made the people accept him and cheer him on for another term.

OGD wooed the people of Ogun state with his seemingly attractive plans, innovations, transformative schemes, and very contagious smile. However since he left office in 2008, there have been eyebrows raised on when the return of the king would be.

This big question remained not until the heralds of the king’s return transited from the position of fantasy to become a reality once more.Throughout the nook and cranny of Ogun state is a new era both youths and aged are finding amusing.

Unlike the regular rigid posters indigenes of Ogun state stare at every four years with vague impressions, bossy looks, and a show of affluence with the style of their traditional regalia, the posters are different now.

They have brought dynamism, uniqueness, and assurance to the people staring at the walls and billboards in Ogun state.

A careful look at one of his bills presents a man of focus, dedicated to lifting the sweat he built from the decadence caused by his lengthy sabbatical, with a reassuring smile to once again bring his state to the spotlight of transformation as he has done before.

Carefully, like a man visiting his apartment for the first time after a long vacation, he folds his sleeve, keeps a focused gaze, radiating with confidence, and flashing a contagious smile of familiarity asserting him to be capable of transforming his state once again through dedication and hard work, as he has done in the past.

OGIDI OMO as fondly called, has arrived the stage again, charming the indigenes of Ogun state with his previous success stories, and his nostalgic charisma. I could have said his posters are facing strategic places that seem to be his legacy and initiative when he was the governor of Ogun state. However, has he not indeed transformed Ogun state and made it emerge from the shadows it lurked before 2004?

His return is making the people of Omu-Ijebu believe that the major route that connects their settlement with Ijebu-Ode might be tarred again.

Will the Dipo Dina International Stadium, which hosted some games during the Nigeria 2009 U-17 World cup, have a major face-lift once again?

The Tai Solarin University of Education remains a standing monument of his premier legacies, while Tai Solarin College of Education also remains a gateway to the rapid transformation of Omu-Ijebu.

The gateway stadium at Sagamu is a valid reminder of his transformative mastermind, the Ogun bus mass transit is one of his ever-functional intervention schemes; while his vision of the Agro-cargo airport is a standpoint that has been tested and trusted, as His Excellency (Prince) Dapo Abiodun has also pursued this dream.

As Otunba Gbenga Daniel returns to take the nobility of Ogun state to the senate, the indigenes of Ogun State and Nigeria as a whole can nostalgically reflect on the wonders that he has done in the past. No wonder they once again trust the sword of leadership to be in the care of this great man, who has been immensely trusted to take Ogun state back to the gateway days.

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