‘Governor Seyi Makinde: Things Falling Apart’ | By Sola Abegunde

The Governor of Oyo state took ant-infested faggots into his hut.

He has begun to reap visitations by lizards.

He has challenged his grandfather in a wrestling match and the loin clothes of the old man is blinding him.

The tempest has come.

Governor Seyi Makinde is facing problems on multiple fronts these days.

From the polity, in governance, things are not adding up at all and even his heavily induced Media partners are helpless.

The propaganda could no longer make a difference.

Things are falling apart and the center is seriously threatened.

I have foreseen  this troubling times a long time ago and I kept warning Governor Makinde but his ego and the mediocres around him would not allow him to see reasons.

Sometimes, I wondered if Governor Makinde’s cocksuredness is anything ordinary.

I have heard some people talked about some stuffs around the rain water and I kept telling such people that even, if someone is in possession of a powerful charm, he must nurture the efficacy of the charm with a beautiful character.

It is for a purpose that Yorubas believe that a charm may work for you in difficult circumstances but your Creator works for you everyday. ( Oogun lo ni ojo kan iponju, Ori eni lo ni ojo gbogbo).

Whatever it is that has been driving Governor Seyi Makinde, that unseen force actually drove him hard.

It drove him to the point that he completely lost himself in the thoughts that he could do anything against anyone and he would get away with it.

He lost the ability to apply the brakes!

If you check his history, as a politician, he has dumped a large number of known allies and he does it recklessly and often.

Infact, he treats his allies like tissue paper. Once done with them, he throws them away.

As I write this piece, the pains in the voice of a former Majority Leader of the House of Representatives still echoe in my head.

The woman had explained how Governor Seyi Makinde betrayed her for no justified reasons, despite her contributions to his election as Governor in 2019.

The episode of that woman and many others kept coming to my mind.

The most painful part of that story is the Governor’s reaction to their cries.

Governor Makinde had once said on Radio that the woman and other coalition partners who were complaining and alleging that he betrayed them actually wanted him to be sharing the resources of Oyo state with them.

Unfortunately, some idiots believed him even though, he provided no proof of such weighty allegations and the accused persons kept denying that allegation.

In another interview, he went after the former Majority Leader of the House of Representatives and even mocked her.

He said the woman who claimed to have helped him during his election as Governor actually lost her Senatorial election few days to the governorship election.

Infact, the cold way he reacted by saying that the woman and others who claimed to have helped him win in 2019 should go and support another candidate against him in 2023 made me shudder.

Oh! Governor Makinde mocked that woman. He likened her to someone who had rags on him and wanted to clothe someone else. ( Eni to maa daso fun ni, torun e laa  wo).

Could anyone forget the way he treated his erstwhile Deputy?

By the time Governor Makinde was making pompous and reckless statements against those who helped him in 2019,  he had secured the support of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and he was very certain at that point that his second term was secured.

The second term was secured at the expense of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the same platform Governor Makinde claimed he is repositioning now!

In the polity, Governor Makinde is chameleonic in nature.

He is only loyal to a project which end products would be beneficial to him.

He dumped the coalition that brought him to power in 2019 to embrace Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC in 2023.

Now, he is the one championing the ‘ repositioning ‘ of the PDP to oust Tinubu from office.

Just recently, a former Governor of Ekiti state, Ayo Fayose, impliedly, bursted the bubbles.

Though, he didn’t mention his name but impliedly, the description fits the Oyo state Governor.

He alleged that whatever he is doing with the PDP is just a script aimed at his survival after office.

He said he wants to hold on to the carcass of the dead PDP so as to negotiate his safety from prosecution after his eight years tenure as Governor.

I am not aware that Governor Makinde has denied this allegations.

Anyway, since he was not specifically mentioned but the description perfectly fits him and I don’t think I will be wrong to assume he might be the one in Fayose was talking about.

You will now wonder, what would be the fate of those who believe that Governor Makinde is genuinely committed to the repositioning of the PDP?

The answer shouldn’t be a riddle to a discerning mind.

I have said it recently and I will repeat it for emphasis sake.

Every intending aspirants on the platform of the PDP may end up as mere necessary tools.

They are at the mercy of a chess player and could be traded away at any moment by the chess master.

Governor Makinde must have spent a fortune to takeover a faction of the PDP from his former colleague, Nyesom Wike.

He is now completely in charge of whatever remains of the PDP on the side of the National Chairman of the Party.

The time, resources and energy he is burning on ensuring that he triumphs over Wike are much more than the energy he is dedicating to his primary assignment as the Governor of Oyo state.

A couple of days ago, I read a very disturbing report which says that there is an acute shortage of medical doctors in Oyo state.

The report revealed that in Okaka, Iresa-Adu, Ikoyi-Ile, Sepeteri, Lanlate and Ayete, there are no medical Doctors at the General Hospitals located in those towns.

The report went further to reveal that in Igbeti, Igboho, Iganna, Iwere-Ile, Iseyin, Ago-Amodu, Ago-Aare, Lagun, Eruwa and Igboora, only a medical doctor is available at the general hospitals to manage hundreds of patients!

Governor Seyi Makinde is on his seventh year of an eighth years tenure and this is the sad reality of our general hospitals.

Sadly, the governor is much more engrossed in political party activities, neglecting his primary duties of ensuring security and the well being of the people of Oyo state as enshrined in section 14(2)b of the 1999 Constitution ( as amended).

While his government kept shouting to the rooftops that the governor has done what no one before him had done with respect to the employments of teachers, they will never tell you that the infrastructures in our public primary and secondary schools have never been neglected as it is under Governor Makinde.

None of those who are praising him would allow their children to attend those public schools where teachers were being employed to teach.

Even, the teachers take their Children to private schools!

It is like a case of someone who is selling food but she will not eat from the portion she is selling to the public.

Like I said, Governor Makinde is in the midst of a tempest right now.

In the polity, things are not going well because the holding of the PDP National Convention in Ibadan is now being threatened from all fronts.

His colleagues are leaving for the APC on a daily basis.

At home, he has kept losing allies on a daily basis and it does look like it is just the beginning.

To cap it, his government’s surest source of making money is now under an unexpected attack from the federal government.

Just yesterday, the federal ministry of housing and urban developments, through a statement signed by its Permanent Secretary, Shuaib Belgore warned residents against buying some of its properties in Oyo state.

The ministry listed the Africa Regional Center for Engineering Design and Manufacturing, ( ARCEDEM) property measuring approximately 73.954 hectares of land lying and situated along Iwo Road, Olodo Lagelu Local Government area and other sites in their statement.

From available information, the Oyo state government has encroached on some of the listed properties.

Fire on the mountain you say? Well, these are interesting times.

I also read the statement by the Oyo state College of Education, Lanlate and JAC where the Institution was bemoaning a shortfall in salary.

The situation in Oyo state tertiary institutions are worrisome.

I am currently conducting investigations at the technical university and the LAUTECH, Iseyin and preliminary results are revealing.

I will make my findings public very soon.

The broadcasting corporation of Oyo state, BCOS is another state Institution that is dying under Governor Seyi Makinde.

Staff welfare at BCOS is a disaster and I will do a comprehensive reports on the BCOS very soon.

Just yesterday again, I read about the resignation of Hon. Kehinde Oshin a candidate for the House of Representatives under the PDP in 2023.

Amongst other reasons, he cited Governor Makinde’s unfulfilled promises, the crisis at the federal level of the party and the fact that only one individual is in control of the PDP in Oyo federal constituency as the reasons he was leaving the party.

Every day, residents of the circular road Corridor continue to cry out blood as a result of the ongoing demolitions of buildings along the axis.

A project which is supposed to be a reference point for praises has become a plague as a result of Governor Seyi Makinde’s shenanigans about an acceptable set back.

Honesty is a virtue.

I agree that you may also get to the top through crooked means but your stay at the top will be short-lived.

The one I am so surprised about is the cold war between him and his now estranged broadcaster ally, the one who claimed to be a stakeholder in his government.

I have been wondering, exactly what is happening between the shadow behind the ‘ Oyo npeo movement ‘ and his once beloved Governor Seyi Makinde, who could never be wrong!

Honestly, these are interesting times.

The list of those who are crying either quietly or publicly as a results of the actions of Governor Makinde is so long.

I am sorry to say this but the governor is a serial betrayer and the facts are there for all to see.

Even, if you look at Mukaila Auxiliary, despite his reckless and stupid dispositions, you will still be convinced that the governor is not totally fair to him.

This man was an ex convict who was laying low somewhere.

According to Auxiliary, in the series of interviews granted before he was nabbed, Governor Makinde approached him through Seye Famojuro and he was employed for ‘security purposes’ , I wonder what that means.

We all know the atrocities Mukaila Auxiliary committed all over the places under the watch of Makinde the candidate and Makinde the Governor.

I was in Eruwa in 2021 during the local government election and I saw, first hand, the brutality this individual was  capable of.

Four innocent lives were lost in Eruwa on the day.

Question is, who protected him after that?

We all know what happened at Igangan in 2023.

The number of lives lost.

Who did Auxiliary follow to Igangan and whose interests was he protecting?

Who protected him after the mindless killings?

Auxiliary himself gave vivid explanations about what happened at Igangan in his interviews.

What of the innocent toddler who was crushed to death at Ogbomosho, allegedly, during the governor’s campaign?

Auxiliary was fingered on the day.

Who shielded him?

When Auxiliary was alleged to have damaged Tinubu’s billboards in Ibadan, it was alleged that he ran to the government house and was shielded from being arrested by the police.

At that time, who shielded him?

Who allegedly signed his bail bonds?

Who messed up his trial?

Who has such powers?

The man alleged that he was using the PMS money to run the campaign for the governor’s reelection in 2023!

The PMS money originally belongs to the 33 local governments of Oyo state.

Did Governor Makinde deny the allegations?

When they allegedly employed him for ‘security purposes ‘, with what did they expect him to protect them with?

Sticks or stones?

How could you raise and nurture a monster and exonerate yourself from the havoc wrecked by that same monster?

That is why I said Governor Makinde is not fair to Auxiliary.

They must share the blame together.

I said it before. The law of diminishing returns is fast catching up on Governor Makinde.

I have grabbed my popcorn.

It is going to be fun, watching the unfolding events in the coming days.

Sola Abegunde.