Date Published: 07/06/09

We have Gov. Gbenga Daniels naked pictures -Ogun lawmaker

As the oath-taking drama between Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State and some members of the state House of Assembly (G15) continues to unfold, Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Hon. Tokunbo Oshin, has disclosed that the group has photographs of the governor taking traditional oath naked.

Making this disclosure during a television programme on TVC at the weekend, Hon. Oshin said the naked picture of a member of the group, Wale Alausa, published by Governor Daniel’s newspaper, Nigerian COMPASS, last week was only a part of the full photograph, explaining that the other part had Governor Daniel standing naked and taking the traditional oath with Alausa.

The lawmaker said the group had restrained itself from making the photograph public because it did not want to put the state into disrespute by publishing the photographs of the governor naked.

Hon. Oshin disclosed that the group would not descend to the abysmal level that led Daniel to publish the photographs of a serving lawmaker in a newspaper.

The lawmaker declared that Daniel had foreclosed the possibility of resolving the dispute between him and the lawmakers amicably by his decision to publish the photographs. “The truth shall prevail in the end and the people will soon know who is lying,” he added.

Governor Daniel’s aides had at several fora challenged the lawmakers to publish the photographs of the governor they claimed they had.

Also speaking on the crisis, the Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. (Pastor) Remi Hassan, said a committee set up by the House to investigate allegations of defamation levelled against the governor by Hon. Alausa would soon send an invitation to Daniel to appear before it and defend himself against the allegations.

Hon Alausa warned that Daniel must appear before the committee and defend himself against the allegations. Hassan, who is the chairman of the committee, said the findings of the committee on the issue would be tabled before the whole House for decision. The house is currently on vacation.

Meanwhile, in order to pre-empt the publication of the nude photographs of the governor, his newspaper, Nigerian Compass, in its edition of today, Monday, 6 July, 2009 published a full page advertorial titled “Another Plot Against Ogun State Exposed.”

In the advertorial signed by Mr. Kayode Samuel, the state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, it was claimed that “the Ogun State government has discovered a plot to rubbish the state and bring the name of our respected Governor Otunba Gbenga Daniel to disrepute. The plot is being orchestrated by some lawmakers in the Ogun State House of Assembly in collaboration with certain external forces.”

Rather than mention Nigerian Compass as the newspaper that first published the nude photograph of one of the lawmakers on its front page last week Monday, the statement added: “It would be recalled that on Monday, 29 June, 2009, a National Newspaper published the nude picture of a member of the House, Mr. Wale Alausa, indicating that he partook in a blood oath at a shrine in Ijebu-Igbo. This publication was done by an independent national newspaper (Nigerian Compass owned by Governor Daniel) in the course of its expected role of informing, educating and entertaining the reading public…”

The advertorial also claimed that there are computer simulation of fake photographs of Governor Daniel, already produced by those behind the plot, which have been circulated to some national dailies as well as P.M.News for publication.

In the advertorial, the commissioner further stated: “We admonish those external forces that are sponsors of G15 to leave Ogun State alone. This state is an epitome of peace, development and progress… In Ogun State, there is no room for moneybags of doubtful provenance who, for lack of something to do, employ certain elements to cause confusion in some states in the South West.”

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