Former Governor Olusegun Osoba of Ogun has narrated his 16-year ordeal in the hands of ex-governors Gbenga Daniel and Ibikunle Amosun, his successors.

“The first 16 years of my leaving this office have been very traumatic. I never came back as I became a snake that doesn’t go back to where it has shed its skin,” said Mr Osoba. “This premises became a no-go -area for me, and every symbol of the projects that I did was removed.”

Mr Osoba spoke in Abeokuta on Tuesday at the inauguration of a press centre named after him by Governor Dapo Abiodun.

Osoba served as governor of Ogun between 1999 and 2003.

He added, “I was practically declared persona non grata in Ogun. My name was sent to EFCC so many times, and the agency investigated me severally but found nothing. I couldn’t come to Abeokuta, not to talk of visiting the office of the governor. The other eight years were also problematic.”

Mr Osoba described Mr Abiodun as “a governor of redemption and restoration,” pointing out that he reminded him of agonising old memories and turned them into joyful memories.

“To imagine that my returning to this premises after those years will be this glorious is something of great emotion for me. Mr Governor, you will not know how many hours you have added to my life with this action today.

“It may be hours, it may be weeks, days, and it may be years, but you have added something very great to my life today,” Mr Osoba explained.

In his remarks, the governor described Mr Osoba as “an encyclopaedia and a veteran journalist,” adding that his administration could not think of any other personality who deserved the honour more than him.

“Chief Osoba is a statement, a respectable icon in the pen-pushing profession, and he also symbolises the birthplace of the first newspaper in Nigeria, established in 1859,” said Mr Abiodun.

(NAN)