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The many ways Soyinka supported me – Gbenga Daniel

Daniel and Soyinka

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By Nehru Odeh

Otunba Gbenga Daniel, former Governor of Ogun State has revealed the many ways Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, whose 90th birthday is being celebrated globally, supported him.

Soyinka turned 90 on 13 July, 2024.

Daniel, who is currently a senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District, made this known while delivering the keynote address at an event organised by Isara community, where Soyinka hails from, to mark his 90th birthday and celebrate him.

The event tagged “Celebrating the Illustrious son of Isara-Remo, Prof. Wole Soyinka at 90,” held on Monday, 15 July at Afotamodi Town Hall, Isara-Remo, in Ogun state.

It was facilitated by Kunle Awobodu.

Daniel, who was the chairman of the occasion, narrated how Soyinka encouraged and inspired him to carry out the modernization process which led to the installation of the elevator at Olumo Rock, a tourist destination, in Abeokuta.

He also spoke about how the literary icon supported him by agreeing to be the ambassador of the Gateway Games, the National Sports Festival, which Ogun State organized while he was governor in 2006.

According to him, because of Soyinka’s support, the state was able to raise the needed funds to organize the festival because of the credibility Soyinka gave the games.

Daniel said: “Let me tell you about the Wole Soyinka who supported me. Many of you don’t know this. I would tell you two secrets. I would tell you today the secret of the modernization that we did at Olumo Rock in Abeokuta.

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“Prof. Soyinka was in exile. And I went to America. I was looking for him. I think he was a visiting lecturer at Emory University in Atlanta. So I went to Emory. And I said I was looking for Prof. Wole Soyinka. First, they were looking at me, to see whether I was a secret agent. But later on when they interviewed me, they now said ‘Okay.’ They made it possible for me to see him.

“I then told him that I had an ambition to be governor of Ogun State. And we did start talking. One of the places he took me to was a sight that had a high mountain. And in that mountain, they had ways and means of climbing to the top. They had an elevator and escalators.

“I then started talking to him about tourism, what we can do to improve tourism in Nigeria and in Ogun State. When I became governor, I went to Olumo Rock and saw the challenge old people were facing, how dangerous it was to go to the top of that hill.

‘Based on the fact that I am an engineer, I said I was going to install an elevator at Olumo Rock. And that was how we went into Olumo Rock and installed the elevator, which is still there today.

“So if somebody is 70 years old, 80 years old, instead of climbing that rock in the most dangerous manner, they are able to reach the pinnacle of that rock. That was what I learnt from Prof. Wole Soyinka.

“The second thing that he did for us which we are not going to forget in a hurry was when we wanted to host the Gateway Games. When we got the approval to do that games in 2006, the government told us bluntly that we have no money to give you. So, if you want to do the games, go and find money to run the games.

“We ran to Prof. Wole Soyinka. I said, ‘Prof, this is a challenge that we have. How do we go about it?’ Somebody then suggested that we should make Prof. the ambassador of the Gateway Games.

“We suggested the idea to him and happily he agreed to be the ambassador of the Gateway Games. So we went and celebrated him in a most dramatic manner. And once everybody that we talked to discovered that Wole Soyinka was our ambassador, they started giving us money.

“Because they felt what we were doing had credibility. That Gateway Games which we held in 2006 remains the best National Sports festival till today. I am told that our state is going to host another one next year. So I am hoping the the state is going to host the one that will beat what we did in 2006.”