When the Suit Comes Off: Questions for Governor Makinde | By Yusuf Olatunji Alabi

I used to think Governor Seyi Makinde was a civil person, a man who understood that politics has boundaries. But alas, “a kì í má ìwà tálákà, àfi tó bá di olówó”.
We thought the former governor was on the high side of jab-throwing. But what we seem to be witnessing is a different style — a thug in a suit.
Nothing seems particularly civil about some of the governor’s recent utterances. He appears to be letting the sword out of the sheath.
If he chooses to go down that road, then he should expect that he will not be spared either.

“Ẹni àpọ́nlé, là ń pọ́n lé”.

If the governor places himself on the tray, he will  be transacted.

The Governor in his welcome remark said ” A lawyer with no court appearance” a direct attack on the APC gubernatorial candidate.

How do we reconcile that a learned man would make the argument that a lawyer can only be recognised as a lawyer by court appearance? Is that really the standard by which professional competence should be measured? It’s disappointing for someone of the calibre of an elite who claims to be one to stoop so low in such an argument in the name of politics.

Gov. Makinde also claimed he has constituted a team of experts. However, in 2026, what kind of team of experts and engineers would look at some of these and consider them well-done jobs?

TEAM OF EXPERTS, BUT…
1. Our schools still have classrooms where teachers use chalkboards and handwritten student report cards and other records.
2. Schools still struggle with adequate basic classroom furniture.
3. Teachers still have to strain their voices because classrooms in large, populated schools have no audio-visual teaching facilities.
4. Major parts of the city are looking dirtier than ever.
5. Recreation centres are being converted into housing estates, while recreational facilities are being pushed to the outskirts.
6. The state continues to rely on borrowing to support its budget and major projects.
7. The budget keeps returning with supplementary appropriations and realignments.
8. There have always been emergency sittings of the House of Assembly to consider and approve additional borrowing and expenditure requests.
9. The Oriire schoolchildren and their teachers spent days in the forest after being abducted under the experts.
10. Local governments have been reduced to places where workers and officials visit rather than functioning centres of grassroots administration.
11. A van being used as a garbage truck re-litters the street while moving to the dumping site.
12. Oyo still does not have a state-owned tech hub that adequately serves the growing number of young people interested in technology and digital innovation.
13. Dysfunctional state-owned buses to convey commuters, unlike what is seen in other cities.
14. Privatisation and leasing out of state-owned establishments, when the team is expert enough to run them.
15. Denigration of our traditional institutions into political tools of division and rivalry.
16. and the only state owned tertiary hospital has no facility for kidney dialysis
WHICH TEAM OF EXPERTS DOES THIS PALTRY JOB?

These are not questions that disappear because government officials call themselves experts. They remain questions because governance is ultimately measured by what the people see, use and experience.

The Governor also claimed to be a certified engineer.

But the question is not whether he has an engineering certificate. The question is: what does the engineering thinking behind the administration’s projects look like?

We ask the following questions of the engineer:

1. What kind of engineering solution powers streetlights with diesel generators?
2. What explains streetlight projects that are constructed but became dysfunctional before completion?
3. Why should the concession or remodelling of a major complex remain incomplete for years?
4. Why should the relocation of recreational centres to the outskirts be treated as normal urban development?
5. Why should a state administration struggle to initiate major dual-carriageway projects within several years?
6. Why does the state secretariat still look largely unchanged from the era of previous administrations despite years of talk about modernisation?
7. Why construct drainage channels without adequate provision for access and maintenance along their sides?
8. How do we end up with a stadium that experiences waterlogging, despite the billions?
9. Why, after the Bodija explosion, are people still asking questions about the full public disclosure and implementation of relevant reports and recommendations?
10. Why construct bus terminals without sufficiently addressing the traffic-management system around them?

These are not questions about whether Governor Makinde is an engineer. They are questions about what engineering, planning and project-management expertise should produce in a modern state. That is where the argument becomes interesting.
The Governor cannot tell the people on a political stage that he has the best team of experts and that no other team is better. This is completely political and myopic. Experts in the state are not limited to his team. Oyo State is blessed with experts beyond Governor Makinde’s team, and with the want of experience we have seen, we do not need the Governor to reiterate his team; the results tell us who they are. Oyo State has been a Pace Setter state before the Governor’s administration, and it will always be.

Politics is politics and respect is reciprocal

However, the problem begins when political opposition moves from policy to personality, from performance to personal attacks, from defending records to questioning individuals.
You cannot resort to personal attacks on your opponents and then not expect that you will be spared.

It is better for everyone to be civil!