As governor I never stole any money belonging to Ogun State —Daniel

A former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, on Sunday said no money belonging to the state government was stolen, or went missing under his eight years in office as governor.

The former governor also claimed that his eight-year-old trial for alleged N200m fraud was nothing but mere persecution by his successor, Ibikunle Amosun.

Daniel made these claims in a statement by his media aide, Ayo Giwa on Sunday, noting that despite charging him with theft, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCc) had not been able to show the court that any money was missing from the treasury of Ogun State throughout his time as governor.

Read also: Obaseki’s aide lashes at Oshiomhole, says learn to win elections without the use of thugs

The former governor, who described his trial as a charade, urged the world to take note that the charge, which began with an alleged N87bn fraud, had been amended on three different occasions with the amounts claimed to have been stolen being reduced from N87bn to N52bn, to N9bn and N200m.

“All these were done within the prosecution windows even as Otunba Daniel has not entered his own defence.

“It should also be noted that the EFCC spent almost eight years in calling their various witnesses and none of them gave evidence of any missing money and/or funds belonging to the Ogun State Government. As a matter of fact, all the witnesses agreed under cross-examination that no fund belonging to the state government was missing.

“There has been no record that any money was lost in Ogun State treasury while Otunba Daniel was Governor of Ogun State; hence there was no theft of any money belonging to Ogun State. Even when the chief ‘persecutor’ himself held sway as the Governor on Ogun State he could not tender any record or documents of any money lost or missing from the Ogun State coffers,” the statement reads in part in reaction to a publication by a national newspaper cautioned ’10 govs who may suffer Kalu’s fate.’

He said there was a need to emphasise that “most of the subsisting charges border on administrative procedures and executive discretion.

“We therefore wondered where these figures about N200m stolen funds come from.

“It therefore puts logic to test that it is only Otunba Gbenga Daniel that is standing trial on behalf of an administration that ruled the state for eight years; suggesting there was no accomplice, no clerk, no collaborators – just one man, presumed to be signing vouchers, cheques and paying himself if indeed and truly there were any infraction on the state finance.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now