Senator Daisy Danjuma, a Daughter Who Never Forgot Her Homestead by Austin Isikhuemen
Austin Isikhuemen | Contributor on politics and business-related topics
A couple of months ago, I was in Benin City and drove from GRA through Ikpokpan to Murtala Mohammed Way. After crossing the reconstructed junction where M.M.Way empties into Sapele Road, I was amazed at the architectural “moulting” that hit my eyes on the left side. Saidi Hotel was undergoing metamorphosis, curtesy of Senator Daisy Danjuma. I will return to this later.
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I first made contact with Saidi Cinema in late 1981 when Austin Omokhuale and I were taken to watch “ABBA The Movie” by his uncle, Fred Ukeke. I came from Uniben to spend a weekend. Uncle Fred was working at the New Nigeria Bank, and he loved going to the movies and playing lawn tennis at the Civil Service Club on Commercial Avenue in the GRA.
I was so impressed with the well air-conditioned Cinema Hall and its collapsible chairs with soft leather covers. The sound quality was different from what I had heard at Uromi in a warehouse that passed for a Cinema near the motor park.
The quality of the pictures was so impressive that I was a bit upset when the musical finally ended. I wanted it to go on forever. Saidi Cinema registered permanently in my memory.
In January 1991, I got posted to Benin Brewery after joining Guinness in Lagos a month earlier as a Management Trainee. Accommodation was provided at, of all places, Saidi Hotel!
I spent three months there at company expense. My joy knew no bounds. This was not only because Saidi Hotel was about the best in Benin City at that time, but the pleasant memory I had of Saidi Cinema was still fresh.
My stay was fantastic with the Hotel owner, Mr. Saidi himself, a naturalized Lebanese, personally making sure our stay was pleasant and memorable. The architecture of the hotel was alluring. Right from the reception you were welcomed by large works of art – paintings, wooden sculptures and some made of concrete.
The murals on the walls were colorful. There were statues that reminded you that you were in Benin City, the home of art and culture. You would not be blamed if you described Saidi Hotel as a perpetual art exhibition!
It had a swimming pool and a lot of flowers and plants that gave the environment a lush green facade and cool ambience. Mr. Saidi kept adding new structures, and before I left on 1st April 1991, I and my colleagues had the privilege of staying in rooms of the newly opened round multi-storey block at the back overlooking the UAC warehouse. The doors were made of sawed-off wood crafted in a way to make them amazing works of art!
Years later, as we grew up in Guinness, I had the privilege of arranging accommodation and dinners for visiting managers and expatriates at Saidi Hotel. My earlier relationship with Mr. Saidi and his staff always came in handy at those times. Saidi’s cuisine, Nigerian, Chinese, Arabic and continental, were second to none.
In 2020, I was driving past Saidi hotel when I mused about the “death” of the hotel. Mr. Saidi had left years ago and none of his children may have been willing to come and settle in Nigeria. The economy had gone south and Saidi had got old.
I drove to the gate and parked out of curiosity. I walked in and what I saw broke my heart. The hotel was in a state of complete dilapidation. Walls peeling off and the patches of grass outside made the place to look like a semi-desert. I saw lizards and geckos on the walls. I had to turn back almost in tears. Such a waste. The story of Nigeria.
Back to the Saidi Hotel (or Saidi Centre, as it was also called) metamorphosis and rejuvenation.
I was in Benin City a couple of months ago and something took me to Murtala Mohammed Way. I turned to look at the abandoned Saidi hotel with nostalgia thinking I would see the unsightly dilapidated structures again. What I saw gladdened my heart. There, before my eyes, was evidence of reconstruction in progress!
Though it was early days, it was clear that someone had taken up the arduous task of bringing Saidi Hotel back to life. I was overjoyed as if the hotel was mine. Whoever this entrepreneur is, I prayed that God, who had helped him or her to start this resurrection work, would support him or her take it to completion.
On 3rd December 2025 on Facebook, I saw a post that showed General T.Y. Danjuma arriving in Benin City Airport. He went from there to inspect the reconstruction of Saidi Hotel, among other projects. It was through those videos that I saw parts of the impressive interior work already done.
Some expatriate builders were seen explaining ongoing project plans to the respected General and great in-law of Edo State. General Danjuma is married to Distinguished Senator Daisy Danjuma, an elegant, brilliant, entrepreneurial daughter of the Ehanire family of Benin Kingdom.
Senator Daisy is said to be behind the project that is sure to give the almost completed Radisson Blue and Protea Hotel currently in operation a run for their money. Competition and choice are on the way for lovers of high-end quality hotels in Benin City.
Even though I do not know for now what the rating of the hotel will be when completed, knowing Senator Daisy and her love for excellence and elegance, this hotel cannot be less than a four Star! 5-Star looks more likely.
Senator Daisy Danjuma and her beloved husband have made, and continue to make, impressive marks on the development of Edo State. There is the ultra-modern Merry Ehanire Mother & Child Hospital in GRA, Benin City. It was built by T.Y. Foundation, facilitated by the Senator and named after her mother.
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The multi-story Ehanire House – an office block housing a lot of businesses on Akpakpava Street. There is the massive support for infrastructural development in the University of Benin funded by herself and husband – General T. Y. Danjuma. They have built four blocks of ultra-modern hostels for the institution.
The Senator also built a massive hall and gave a total face-lift to her alma mater – Itohan Grammar School. There is no better school today in terms of quality of classrooms, hostels, laboratories, the massive ultra-modern hall and landscaping, in the whole state.
Her intervention saved the school from an erosion menace that nearly swept the school away. Then this massive hotel project that is going to change the face of the hospitality industry in the state capital!
While she was a Senator representing Edo South in 2003 – 2007, there was no doubt that we had a voice in that Senate. It was not yet a rubber stamp era. She was not only visible for her beauty which God has blessed her with, she was very impactful in the male-dominated Senate and was totally unfazed among her male colleagues.
It is not every daughter that is able to encourage their spouses to support the development of their place of birth. And it is not all in-laws that take their wives’ hometown as their second home like Gen. T. Y. Danjuma has done.
The General, from Takum in Taraba State, has been a great in-law of Edo State. The footprints of this great couple are all over the city for all to see.
Saidi Hotel’s re-awakening is on the way. The quality of the reconstruction is such that once completed, the hotel will become a totally different facility that meets global standard. It will stand proudly where the old Saidi Hotel was, occupying the same footprint. As to what name it will return with, I am sure the new investor is keeping that to her chest.
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No matter what the name it bears when it finally re-opens, I will be there to savor the ambience again and enjoy the superb hospitality it is sure to offer, taking the pedigree of its new owner into account.
14th December 2025.
