In September 2023, Gbenga Daniel, former governor of Ogun State (2003- 2011) and now senator representing Ogun East, found himself at the receiving end of a blitz by Ogun State bulldozers. A new Pharaoh that did not reckon with the former governor was now in charge.
The onslaught by the Ogun State government headed by Governor Adedapo Abiodun resulted in the demolition of a prized estate, DATKEM Plaza in Ijebu Ode, owned by Olufunke Daniel, former first lady of the state and wife of Senator Daniele. The former governor cried blue murder, alleging political victimization by the governor who was now sitting on the same seat he occupied twelve odd years back.
According to Daniel then, the demolition of his wife’s property was carried out at midnight, on weekend. Those details convinced him that the entire operation was premeditated and politically motivated. If Gbenga Daniel needed any evidence that the power he once wielded in Ogun State now resided elsewhere, the demolition of his wife’s plaza was it.
Although Daniel governed Ogun State for two terms as a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor and later served as director-general of the PDP presidential campaign, he had since strayed into the fold of the now ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).That jump on the bandwagon, commonly perceived to be a gimmick by politicians on the opposition side, to avert a slash from the often vicious ruling party, has obviously not brought total relief to the former governor. Not back home in Ogun State, for one. The demolition of DATKEM Plaza is still making the rounds in the law courts. The government of Governor Abiodun insisted that it acted within its powers, in pursuit of a drive to restore or respect the masterplan of cities in Ogun State. As it seems, the aesthetical values that Gbenga Daile did not uplift during his tenure as governor, Dap Abiodun is now out to uphold, at the expense of his predecessor but one. That is the impression.
Two years after the demolition of the prized property of the Daniels in Ijebu Ode, the bulldozers of the Ogun State government, still under Governor Abiodun are raving to move against Senator Gbenga Daniel once again. Last Friday, August 8 2025, the former governor raised a fresh alarm. He informed the public that at about the close of work that day, at about 4pm, agents of the Ogun State government issued another round of notice on his residence and hotel, this time in Sagamu, another town in Ogun State.
The new notices, which Daniel published, asked the property owner (Daniel) to quit, charging that the property is “suspected” to have been erected without proper official approval. If the owners of the property were contesting the quit notice, the papers said, they should come forward with evidence that they have approval. The property in question this time are Daniel’s Asoludero residence, Sagamu, Conference Hotel, Sagamu and the hotel annex.
The impression that can easily be drawn from these rash of quit notices to Daniel on his property and the demolition of some of his estates in Ogun State, is that he specializes in building structures outside the pristine masterplan of Ogun State. Yet the man was not only the governor of the state, he was a well-heeled citizen of the state, long before he went into politics. How did he acquire the rather queer tendency to be building all his property in unlawful areas in Ogun State, if the contention of the Governor Abiodun government is to be believed?
Former Governor Daniel is accusing Governor Abiodun of trying to use the Ogun State Urban and Regional Planning and development Law No.61 of 2022 against his property that had been in existence years before the new intentional law was made. He said Asoludero Court Sagamu was built in 2004. The Conference Hotels Limited, Sagamu was built in 2013, while the hotel Annex was built in 2015.In other words, the new law is bending backwards to find offenders. In the words of the statement from the former governor, “The action is not only politically motivated but also a blatant disregard for due process and the rule of law”
Expectedly, the Ogun State government is insistent that Governor Abiodun is only committed to making Ogun beautiful. According to the defence by the government, the notices on the property of Senator Daniel are nothing personal. To them, the former governor is shouting wolf. In this case though, nobody is saying there is no way in sight, what the government officials appear to be saying is that the wolf is pursuing not just Daniel, but Daniel and others.
Unfortunately, Gbenga Daniel’s ordeal, sad as it may be, is not exactly uncommon in the prevailing regime in Nigeria. Dispossession of individuals of their property through demolition has become a veritable means through which political muscle is flexed. Demolition of private property is now a show of the unassailable power of a man in office and in power. All it takes is for a governor, or a minister as the case may be, to issue a diktat that a particular property, or even a whole section of a city is in contravention of some hazy standards, pronto the buildings are reduced to rubbles.
Interestingly, there is often no clarity about the masterplan or standard which the targeted structures contravene. The offenses are like the proverbial constitution of Malawi under the reign of Kamuzi Banda. Only Banda knew precisely what the constitution contained. What he said the law was, that was it. Or does the public in any state in Nigeria know what any city masterplan is? It is what the governor or the minister says it is. Any property they say is gone, day, that is it.
Lagos state, is of course the lead state in the audacity to demolish private citizens’ property without qualms. For Governor Jide Sanwo- Olu, demolition of some citizens’ property appears to be at once, a show of political chutzpah, as well as an expression of his fidelity to some powers who be impressed by such act. Till date the Lagos State government has not offered any coherent reason for demolishing a prime property in Ikeja belonging to the family of Peter Obi, the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate and a foremost opposition politician.
First, the Lagos state government said they were not aware of the demolition. Next, someone sprang up to claim ownership of a property that the rightful owner had occupied with all requisite property documents for a decade and half. The last that was heard about the matter, a building was being built on the demolished site, even as the Obis went to court, as Nigerians are taunted to do. Could anyone be building on the land without the approval and knowledge of the State governor? Yet the Lagos state government had said “don’t mind Peter Obi.
Demolition of private property has become a show of political power. Those who define city masterplan and order dispossession of other citizens’ property today should do well however, to remind themselves of the trite aphorism that power is transient.
