Justus Olugbenga Daniel

Justus Olugbenga Daniel (born 6 April 1956), popularly known as Gbenga Daniel or OGD, is a Nigerian engineer, businessman, and politician. He served as the Governor of Ogun State from 2003 to 2011 and has represented Ogun East Senatorial District in the Nigerian Senate since 2023. He is the founder of Kresta Laurel Limited and has remained an influential figure in Nigerian politics.

Quotes

• Not at all. When I was governor, I remained myself. I wasn’t living extraordinarily. I kept my office here and once in a while, I would come here and tell my secretary that she should ensure that they dust and keep the place clean. So when I left as governor, I didn’t find it difficult to acclimatise and there wasn’t any issue. I just resumed with my life where I stopped eight years earlier.
  • Interview response to the question 'When you left office as governor, did you find it difficult to adapt to your normal way of life before you became governor?'

• Before I went into office as governor, I was the Chairman and Managing Director, but in my absence, the positions were separated. On my return, we now have the Managing Director, I am now the Chairman. I do come in here to give advice and to support, because this is my profession and I enjoy the work.
  • Interview response to the question 'So, are you now fully back or you pop in once in a while maybe just to supervise or something?'

• I have always explained that in this country, the maximum anybody runs for is governorship. Above that, it is really by invitation. I have run for governorship twice and that is the maximum anybody can run for. In Nigeria, it may appear as if you are running for a position but when you look carefully, it doesn’t work that way.
  • Interview response to the question 'Do you still have the intention of running for an elective office again?'

• Some powerful people would have reached a consensus somewhere and invite you to come and run, not that you would have decided to run. All the people that have tried to run on their own for the post of either the President or the Vice President in the past have not been successful in Nigeria, and if you know any one instance, please tell me.
  • Interview response to the question 'Do you still have the intention of running for an elective office again?'

• As young, secondary school students, you read several great people in history, you heard about them and you got motivated and attracted to them. Awojobi was one Professor that I was attracted to because of his capacity. It happened during our time that young men gravitated towards people we had respect for.
  • Interview response to the question 'Why were you very close to the late Professor Ayodele Awojobi?'

• Some people gravitated towards Professor Wole Soyinka and because of him went to read literary arts; some would gravitate towards army generals but I was more or less attracted to him. That’s what happened and he was the main reason why I went to study Mechanical Engineering.
  • Interview response to the question 'Why were you very close to the late Professor Ayodele Awojobi?'

• Oh, it was probably one of the saddest days of my life. I was abroad in Germany then in 1984 when I heard that he passed on. I did not believe initially until reality dawned on me later that it was true. He was celebrated all over the world because people knew his value and academic prowess even much more abroad than in Nigeria.
  • Interview response to the question 'And when he died, how did you feel?'

• I watched the whole scenario on German television even at that time. He remains even in death one of the greatest professors of Mechanical Engineering with specialty in Mechanical Vibrations and Automatic Controls in history and his contribution to the body of knowledge in his chosen field remains indelible till date.
  • Interview response to the question 'And when he died, how did you feel?'

• My father, His Grace Most Rev Abraham Adebola Daniel JP was a clergy man; I was born and raised in the vineyard of the Lord. So, it is in my gene to praise and worship God and that is precisely why whatever I touch, the first thing I do is to praise and thank God. And in any case, if you examine my life journey, I do have more than enough reasons to praise the Lord. The Bible teaches us that if you know how to give thanks, then God would multiply your blessings.
  • Interview response to the question 'During your birthday on Sunday, there was praise worship for a couple of hours. Have you always been a man of God?'

• They were all deliberately fabricated lies by political opponents and orchestrated by the media; that is all. They were tales by the moonlight, fictions by James Hardley Chase. Tales formulated by political opponents and largely amplified by the media. What shocked me however was that people even supposedly educated and intelligent believed those tales.
  • Interview response to the question 'I asked that question because of some things that circulated around when you were governor which were inconsistent with the life of a man of God, like some people said you compelled them to take oath in the shrine and all of that.'

• No, quite on the contrary, principle was my second name; it wasn’t controversy. It was about being principled. There is just a minimum that I would not go beyond under any circumstance based on my training and long cherished value systems. That is what happened.
  • Interview response to the question 'When you were governor, particularly during your second term, controversy virtually became your second name…'

• That is the opposite of what I am. All of that was media orchestration. Quite on the contrary, I remain a democrat; quite on the contrary, what I enjoy most is if people can come, sit with me and argue, I always respect superior argument and fall in line. So that is precisely the opposite of who I am. I am very comfortable in the company of highly intelligent and cerebral people.
  • Interview response to the question 'You were said to be a governor that did not tolerate argument or dissent.'

• Deliberately so, all what happened then is what I call deliberate falsehood, formulated by political opponents and orchestrated by the media. I have described it correctly and I am not joking: tales by the moonlight, fiction by James Hardley Chase. That is how I think I can describe what happened. It was the exact opposite of who I am and I cannot be any other thing. My father was a clergy man and he didn’t run into it by accident. He started it as a teenager and he remained like that until he passed on in 2011.
  • Interview response to the question 'Would you say that you were probably misunderstood then?'

• I was a strong Scripture Union member at the Baptist Boys High School, I became the School Chaplain at a stage and I was a chorister and later the school church organist. I have never at any time in my life and till date, belonged to any cult or secret society. So, when would I begin to be all those things I was accused of? When would I start to be the son of Lucifer? ‘It is a tale told by idiots full of sound and fury signifying nothing…’ if you permit me to quote from the Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare.
  • Interview response to the question 'Would you say that you were probably misunderstood then?'

• Well, I also explained in one of my recent interviews that the fact of the case is that there is so much that’s required to be done to lift the generality of our people from the shackles of poverty, and that there is a limit that can be done in the framework of being in the private sector. The challenge we have in our country is that public servants must use public service to accelerate development to make things happen. My going into service was not about me at all; if it was about me, like you said, I had no business there. But I believed and still believe that we could seize the opportunity of governance to turn around the society which we did to a large extent and I am sure that even skeptics and critics in their quiet moments would admit.
  • Interview response to the question 'You became a successful engineer at such a young age. If you were that successful, why did you dabble into politics?'

• Let me tell you something that somebody told me recently; the person wasn’t from the state but he met one of my political colleagues from the state, who confessed to him and said, ‘Look, that guy(that is me), he did the right thing o, we were just telling lies against him,’ a true confession. He said they were just telling lies against me because I was becoming too strong and popular. A lot of that happened during the time and to answer your question in a very straightforward manner, basically, public service for a few of us is not because there was something we were looking for but we wanted to change the society and if you want to change the society, it’s all about maintaining the minimum principles. And if you want to maintain the minimum principle, you would not therefore go and dine with the sons of Lucifer. If, for instance, that’s what people think politics is all about, no. So when you insist that this is the minimum you will not go, people will then say you are difficult.
  • Interview response to the question 'You became a successful engineer at such a young age. If you were that successful, why did you dabble into politics?'

External links

• • Gbenga History