These, indeed are troubling times for Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state, even though, he will not publicly admit it.
The Law of diminishing returns is beginning to catch up with him.
It is the way of life. Whatever goes up will definitely come down.
That is why Yorubas will say, ‘ igba laa ni, enikan kii ni aye’. ( You may own a season, you can not own the world).
Sometimes last year, I wrote that I saw a massive wind blowing in the direction of the Governor of Oyo state, a wind blowing with so much force, heading directly for the Governor.
At the time, his Media handlers and lickspittles went for my head.
I was called all manner of names and I laughed because none of them, including the Governor seemed to take a pause and examine my reasons for saying that Governor Makinde might be swept away by a whirlwind.
To them, Governor Makinde is one master Chess player who could never be cornered.
Whearas, I saw in Governor Makinde at the time and up until very recently, a man who failed to understand the true color of Nature.
A man who failed to understand the bitter truth that while you could deceive some people all the time and all the people sometimes, you can never deceive all the people all the time.
So much propaganda is being built to project Governor Makinde as one super hero who has no faults.
Unfortunately, even the Governor began to live in the illusion of the fake personality created through half-truths, outright lies and heavy propaganda and that is where his problems began.
How on earth will someone benefit from a platform woven together for his first ever victory in politics in 2023 and for whatever reason known to him, he personally dismantled the platform by himself?
Sometimes, when God wants to bring a proud man down, He will first take him up to a pinnacle.
Governor Seyi Makinde was supposed to lose the 2023 gubernatorial election but circumstances worked again in his favor and at that point, he completely lost it.
He began to see himself as not only the Governor of Oyo state but also some kind of Emperor.
He became so intoxicated by power to the extent that he never cared whose ox is gored by his frequent reckless actions.
He began to take on Institutions and Authorities.
I shuddered when I saw Governor Makinde disobeying several Judgments of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and talking about how he will choose to obey them!
Infact, in Eruwa, he threw away the judgments of all the layers of the Nigerian Courts to install a co contemnor as the Eleruwa of Eruwa.
He turned the Governor’s office to a meeting point of Kingmakers and took it upon himself to contract a Babaalawo who chose a King for one of the leading Towns in Yoruba Land against custom and tradition.
Like some omnipotent being, he declared that some Kingmakers collected bribes to nominate a candidate for the stool of the Alaafin and in demonstration of his power, he ruled that those Kingmakers were criminals who should not participate in the selection of the King.
In that instance, Governor Makinde combined in himself, the roles of an accuser, the investigator, the prosecution and the judge!
Drunken with power, he once threatened that he would apply the full weights of Government’s power against those who are challenging the appointment of a King in the Law courts.
In Eruwa, he said those who are aggrieved by his decision to disobey the Supreme Court would be wasting their resources if they challenge his illegalities in Court.
It is also on record that Governor Makinde almost disrupted the age long tradition of the Olubadan succession arrangements.
Governor Seyi Makinde is a Yoruba man and I expect him to be aware of the beliefs of the Yorubas that your character is your best asset. ( Iwa loba awure).
The Governor’s greatest weakness is that he doesn’t know how to manage relationships.
Some days ago, I saw a Facebook post of one of his supporters who was lamenting about how he put everything into Governor Makinde’s ambition to be the Governor and how he has been neglected by the Governor.
It is a very pathetic and harrowing experience for the gentleman.
He said he almost died as a result of how Governor Makinde threw him under the bus, refusing to pick his calls or respond to his messages.
When I read that part, I pitied the man and I remembered Governor Makinde’s speech during the burial program for his late Mum.
Governor Seyi Makinde will do anything to get your help and after doing so, he won’t wink when he wants to throw you away.
He is definitely not a charismatic Leader because charisma bestow on you, the ability to make others do, what ordinarily, they wouldn’t have done.
In 2023, after dumping the 2019 alliance, he forged another alliance with President Tinubu and it was as a result of that alliance that he was awarded a second term in office.
At the beginning of Tinubu’s Government, he was always in the Presidential Villa and when some of us asked him to sit in Ibadan and attend to the job he was elected to do, he responded by saying that he would always be in the Villa until he got everything that belongs to Oyo state.
I wonder exactly what belongs to Oyo state that would warrant the Oyo state Governor to carry a mat and be sleeping at Aso Rock.
At that time, I was so sure that Governor Makinde would not sustain the relationship between himself and Abuja.
It is not in the Governor’s DNA to keep friends for a long time.
Behind him, he has a record of a string of betrayals of trusts and nothing would make his relationship with Abuja a different exercise.
I was right.
Not long after President Tinubu settled down in office, Governor Makinde began to show signs of hostilities.
Initially, some people thought his actions were some kind of drama but I had no doubts that the Governor, in his characteristics manner has started to prove me right.
Today, the Oyo state Governor is the one trying to ‘ rebuild ‘ the PDP with a view to removing Tinubu from office.
In the process of achieving this feat, he is now locked in a supremacy battle with his former boss, or do I call him his former colleague, Nyesom Wike, a former Governor of Rivers state.
That is Governor Seyi Makinde for you.
For him, whatever you did to help him in the past doesn’t matter.
If you stand in his way tomorrow, he will take you on.
Unfortunately for him, he has chosen wrong opponents this time around and they are showing him that only a stupid child would wake up in the morning and challenge his father to a wrestling match.
The stupid child who does that would be blinded by the father’s loin clothes.
In a bid to take over control of the PDP from Wike, Governor Makinde has committed so much time and resources.
He planned to host the National Convention of the Party in Ibadan by November but the tables are turning against him pretty fast.
First, a Federal High Court in Abuja granted an interim order directing that status quo be maintained by Parties pending the determination of a suit challenging the holding of the November Convention in Ibadan.
Just yesterday, the National Secretary of the PDP, Senator Samuel Anyanwu alleged that his signature was forged on the notice for the Convention submitted to INEC by the Governor Makinde faction of the PDP.
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According to reports, Senator Anyanwu has petitioned the DSS, the Police and other relevant security agencies about the alleged criminal act.
Now, the Ibadan Convention of the PDP which Governor Makinde has committed so much resources and time to is already in the mud.
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a video of Governor Makinde where he was reacting to a particular statement by Nyesom Wike.
Governor Makinde said, when people decided to go into the mud, he doesn’t follow them.
Now, let me ask him, now that everything about the Convention are in the mud, will he jump into the mud to rescue his investments or he will simply look away?
Time will tell but I don’t see any alternative for the Governor than to enter the mud and fight.
Governor Seyi Makinde is about to be taught one of the lessons about the Laws of power and it is that you must never try to outshine the masters.
By the time his masters are done with him, he might be the only one remaining as a Governor under the PDP.
In the first instance, it is very odd that some people within the PDP sees Wike as an enemy and perceive Makinde as the savior.
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How could someone overlook the damages done to the PDP in 2023 by the G-5?
How could someone isolate Wike for condemnation and single out Makinde for praises?
Were they not one and the same in the project that destroyed the Party in 2023?
Governor Seyi Makinde is someone who enjoys benefitting from crisis situations.
When there were outcries against the decision of the late former Governor Ajimobi to bring down the building of a popular Radio station in Ibadan shortly before the 2023 gubernatorial election, he was reported to have shown up in shorts, making himself conspicuous and sympathizing with the management of the Road station.
He also publicly condemned the proposed amendments to the Olubadan Chieftaincy Declaration Laws by Ajimobi at the time.
His positions on those occasions assisted him in no small measures during the 2023 gubernatorial election but how many buildings are going down on a daily basis under him as Governor?
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Has he also not introduced far reaching amendments to the Olubadan Chieftaincy Declaration Laws?
Governor Makinde must have thought that Wike’s present peculiar position affords him with the opportunity to seize the control of the PDP from him but that is a great miscalculation on his part.
I only pity those who still believe that a journey with Governor Seyi Makinde on the platform of the PDP would lead to El dorado.
It won’t.
It’s a one way ticket back to Egypt.
The PDP would continue to bleed and bleed until it withers completely and it is as a result of the wounds inflicted on it by Makinde and others since 2023.
I saw a Facebook post of Akeem Olatunji, the former Public Relations Officer, PRO of Oyo PDP regarding the resignation of Mr. Bimbo Adekambi from the APC.
Honestly and this is with due respect to the affected personalities, a lot of people are being afflicted with the Stockholm syndrome within Oyo PDP.
Why should any sensible person celebrate the experiments Governor Makinde is performing with the members of the PDP in Oyo state?
For all intent and purposes, Governor Makinde’s experiments with those he claims to be ‘ harvesting ‘ from the APC on the one hand and members of the PDP on the other hand is an indictment on members of Oyo PDP.
What do I mean by that?
Governor Seyi Makinde constituted a Committee saddled with the responsibilities of upgrading the Ibadan Airport and appointed Bimbo Adekambi as the head of that Committee.
I think a sum of 40b Naira was released for the Committee.
Just recently, he set up another Committee for the celebration of Oyo at 50 and he chose Hon. Saheed Fijabi as the Chairman.
By the time he appointed both of them, they were still members of the APC, at least, on paper and in the case of Fijabi, I am not aware that he has resigned his membership of the APC as at the time I’m writing this piece.
We do not know how much Fijabi’s Committee would be given for the assignment.
Now, does it mean that Oyo PDP is bereft of intelligent and competent men and women that Governor Makinde always have to look at the APC any time he wants to appoint people into sensitive positions?
While Michael Ogunsina, Oyo PDP spokesperson kept jumping from one Radio station to the other, saying that the people of Oyo state has rejected the APC because it is associated with failures, Governor Makinde kept exposing him as a liar every time he gave the kinds of appointments he gave to Adekambi and Fijabi.
Honestly, I am looking forward to the day Governor Makinde will come out publicly to apologize to late Governor Abiola Ajimobi for identifying and working with brilliant minds.
Concerning the resignation of Adekambi, I will address the issue in a separate write up however, his resignation, to me, is not necessary.
He left the APC a long time ago and his frolicking with Governor Seyi Makinde is not news to anyone.
It is being rumored that he is being prepared for greater things which would further reinforce my position that Governor Makinde’s actions are indicting to members of the PDP.
Like I said, I will address his resignation in the fullness of time.
I want to wait till January, 2026, God sparing our lives.
I hope you gerrit?
Author: Sola Abegunde.
