Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state presented the 2026 Budget of Oyo state to the House of Assembly yesterday and expectedly, he treated all of us to some Awada kerikeri.
I have to admit that while some of his rather comical statements and gestures actually provided me with a good laugh, some of them melted my heart.
He talked about strong men and strong Institutions.
He talked about him not having a godfather and the rest like that and that actually provided me with a good laugh.
When he referred to the Oyo state Anti Corruption Agency and another like that, headed by two retired justices of the Oyo state High Court, who were on seat yesterday, and referred to them as the strong Institutions he was building, I laughed until tears were rolling down my cheeks.
At the point he was reading his speech, Governor Makinde enjoyed a privilege which only pastors and Judges, when reading a judgement, do enjoy.
No one would dare interrupt him at that point and he was aware of that privilege when he was gallivanting on the podium.
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If he says those Institutions and others like that, which he has created are strong Institutions, where is the data to back up such frivolous claims?
Anyway, we will challenge Governor Makinde on this frivolous claims at the appropriate time.
Regarding his assertion that he doesn’t have a godfather, he has been saying this for some time now.
Who would blame him?
However, only his lickspittles will believe such cock and Bull stories.
Sometimes, you will want to think like Governor Makinde needs to consult his Dictionary to get the meaning of a godfather in politics but I don’t think that is necessary.
He knows what he is doing and what he is doing is exactly why he is where he is today in the polity- in a political wilderness.
Why is it that he didn’t have a record of political success until 2019 when someone put together a coalition of political forces which earned him his first ever electoral success?
Why was he following Wike around in 2023 and who knows whether he also carried his bags for him to secure a second term in office?
Good enough he didn’t say that he doesn’t have a godmother because, right there, amongst the special Guests, I saw a ‘ motherly’ figure, elegantly seated.
Honestly, Governor Seyi Makinde must have thought that we are all stupid.
Don’t we hear things?
The fact that he always turned against those who helped him does not mean that the public is not aware of how he stooped before some people to achieve his political targets and at that point, when he was doing exactly what, ordinarily, he wouldn’t have done, he was being a godson to those powerful figures.
Now, to the tragic comedy.
It was very painful, listening to the Governor, making jests of those who are protesting against the Circular road corridor.
I know he is pained by the actions of the protesters, no doubt about that.
He has never faced the kind of resistance and vilification that he is presently encountering from the residents of the Circular road corridor.
Governor Seyi Makinde’s ego is being terribly bruised as a result of their resolute stand but I am surprised that Governor Makinde expected anything different.
How could you slap a baby and expect it not to cry?
That ‘Akara dindin’ video is something else but desperate situations require desperate measures.
Should those people have been clapping for the Governor who is bent on grabbing their personal properties?
Should they?
Of course, they shouldn’t.
They have begged. They have pleaded and every of their efforts fell on stone deaf ears.
Governor Makinde surprised me when he said all of us would die one day.
Don’t we all know that?
However, what of the legacy you are going to leave behind you?
At this point, no one, even the victims are no longer begging the Governor.
He has admitted to being very stubborn.
We have also seen that his personal ego matters most to him.
No problems.
We will all be here when his tenure expires and immunity becomes absent.
That is when we will know how truly stubborn he is.
If the Governor likes it, he could mark out the whole of Oyo state and demolish every building and structures.
Eni Aye ye nii te.
The other aspect of Governor Makinde’s speech which caught my attention yesterday is the area where he alluded to the fact that some imaginary entity might want to rig elections in Oyo state in 2027.
To this, I laughed heartily.
Why is Governor Makinde afraid?
What does he know that we don’t know?
Oh! Is it that like the man who spat on the ground and quickly mashed it up with his feet, he is aware of what he and others did with another person’s spit?
Anyway, even if his lickspittles will not admit it and he himself will love to live in denial, he knows how he got his second term in 2023 and I agree with him, he must be mortally afraid.
However, for me, does anyone even need to rig Governor Makinde out in 2027?
Has he not conveniently done enough damage to himself already?
Just yesterday, one of his former Commissioners, Raphael Afonja, left the PDP and that is just one of many cases recently.
Certainly, many more are expected to follow as events unfold.
By the way, how far with ‘ Ibadan 2025’?
Has the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC accepted the officials produced through the National Convention spearheaded by Governor Makinde?
Like I said, Governor Seyi Makinde must have thought that we are all fools.
When he was talking about 2027 and rigging, he forgot to tell us under which political platform he would be presenting his anointed candidate, who he is afraid might be rigged out.
If you would contest an election, you would have to do it on the platform of a registered political party.
I think I know the reason Governor Makinde came up with that unfounded excuse of rigging.
At this point, he knows the extent of the damages he has done to the PDP and himself.
He could smell defeat and he wants to create an excuse already.
However, every right thinking person knows that Governor Makinde already rigged himself out of contention.
His popularity and acceptance has nosedived.
He and others have also distabilized the PDP platform to the extent that no one who is serious about his or her political future will remain in the Party.
When you kill a porcupine, you don’t trouble yourself on how to prepare it on a fire. ( Funra oore nii segi ti a fi nwii).
The PDP will keep imploding until there would be nothing remaining of it beyond history and I congratulate Governor Seyi Makinde for seeing to the demise of a political party that once prides itself as the greatest in Africa.
That is another legacy.
When I was watching Governor Makinde yesterday and he was talking about election rigging, I asked myself if he has forgotten how local Government elections panned out under his watch.
Someone who conducted local Government election in 2021 and lives were lost is now afraid of rigging!
How did he and his OYSIEC handle the 2023 local Government election?
Was he not dancing away at Ido local Government a few days to the 2023 local Government election?
On that occasion, he made it clear that he wasn’t going to allow the opposition to have even a Councilorship seat.
So, when he was singing and dancing at Ido in 2023, did he think that rigging was a bad thing?
This is our time, he sang. ( Tiwa lo de ni, igba te nse tiyin, e ri wa nbe, tiwa lo de ni). That was the lyrics he and the PDP danced to and hysterically so at the time.
How time flies!
The signs are there.
Governor Makinde and his party will be uprooted from Oyo in 2027 and it won’t be because they were rigged out.
It will be because Governor Makinde took the people of Oyo state for granted.
It would be because of his serial betrayals of those who helped him when he needed their help.
It would be because of his ego and self admitted stubbornness.
It would be interesting to see how he would react, when those who chase him out are singing the same song he sang in 2023, ‘ tiwa lo de ni….’.
Sola Abegunde.
