DANIEL BREACHED PROTOCOL – OGUN SPEAKER

By NBF News
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Gov. Daniel
Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Tunji Egbetokun, has carpeted Governor Gbenga Daniel for last Thursday's fracas with Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole during the commissioning of the Ota bridge.

The governor and Bankole literally exchanged blows at the commissioning of the project which was executed by the federal government. Egbetokun's admonition came even as prominent people of the state and beyond continue to react to the near-fisticuffs between the two Ogun power brokers.

In a press release made available to Sunday Sun, the state assembly Speaker said that the governor breached protocol at the event.

Egbetokun praised Bankole for his patience and called on the ruling party, the PDP to sanction the governor and save the state from being engulfed by crises.

'Governor Daniel breached protocol and was told off. If he does it again, we expect him to be told off. We salute Bankole's patience in the face of this provocation ', he said. He catalogued alleged misdeeds of the governor saying Daniel's action was everything but civil and lack of decorum.

'It was the same Daniel who assaulted and beat up Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello at the marriage ceremony of Governor Alao Akala Daughter's wedding in Oyo State. It was Daniel who recently assaulted an innocent passenger in a Lagos bound commercial flight enroute Abuja. It was Daniel who assaulted his former Commissioner of Information, Chief Niran Malaolu and allegedly rained several slaps on his face. It was Daniel who organized his thugs to invade and desecrate Ogun State House of assembly without any justification', he recalled.

Egbetokun further recalled an incident when governor Daniel provoked Dimeji Bankole and openly called him a curse on Ogun State. Meanwhile, prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Abeokuta have condemned the act and described it as an assault on both Daniel and the Minister of Works, Senator Sanusi Daggash.

Among those who spoke during a press conference which held at the Secretariat of the state Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Iwe-Irohin House were Chief Bode Mustapha, Chief Niyi Adegbenro, Joju Fadairo, the chairman of the (PDP) in the state and Chief Okanlawon Soboyede.

Their position came as Chief Sule Onabiyi, the chairman  of Ogun State PDP Elders Council and chairman, Board of Directors of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) urged the National headquarters of the party and the federal government to investigate the incident. Onabiyi described the alleged altercation between the Speaker and Governor Daniel as unnecessary and uncalled for.

'The PDP Elders Council and indeed the entire good people of Ogun State are proud of Speaker Bankole as a true son of the state. One of the problems we have in this state is that we allow dirty politics to becloud our sense of reasoning and good judgment'. 'Without mincing words on what happened in Ota last Thursday, Bankole is one of our stars rising from Ogun who deserves all encouragement from all of us.

Unfortunately, Gbenga Daniel has chosen to look the other way, but he whom the Almighty Allah has made to stand, no man can put him down. Bankole is like the biblical prophet who is not recognized in his homeland', he said.

The (PDP) chieftains mainly from the Ogun Central Senatorial District (Egba extraction) also in a press statement described Bankole's action as disgraceful  and unfortunate. The address which was read by Chief Mustapha stated that, ''it is absurd, an abuse of office and a general inflation of his ego, for Dimeji Sabur Bankole to be so livid, that a ceremony as simple as the commissioning of a bridge could lead to such anger and show of shame on his part.'

The group also urged President Goodluck Jonathan to investigate the matter and apply appropriate sanctions and pleaded with the security agencies to expedite action on the issue. 'As Egbas, we make bold to say that our history and culture is in line with the expectation that a younger person, under no circumstances, should disrespect his elders. Justice must not only be done, but must be seen to have been done expeditiously.'

'It is not the expected responsibility of any member of the legislative arm, let alone the Speaker to commission projects. It is an absurdity of extreme proportion.'

The elders also urged royal fathers in Ogun Central in particular and Ogun State in general as custodians of their heritage to intervene in the matter.