Some of us who have been privileged to witness the last moments of outgoing Governors in office knows that it is always not a pleasant experience.
It is the way of life. Once you are winding up to exit a powerful position, your relevance and authority begins to reduce. At that point, you may begin to experience distortion in thoughts, most especially, when you have spent your time in office to amass enemies for yourself.
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state will leave office by May 29, 2027. He still got some time you would want to say? I would say yes and no. Yes, because, May 29, 2027 is about a year and two months away but if you look at the activities and circumstances around Governor Makinde, you will agree with me that May 29, 2027 is just like tomorrow.
I will come back to this line of thoughts later. On Thursday, during the 12th Omi Tuntun Annual Ramadan Lecture, held at the Ibadan North Local Government Motor park, Governor Makinde declared that competence and loyalty to Oyo state, not Makinde, will determine his successor.
ALSO READ: 2027: My Successor Will Emerge Based On Competency, Loyalty To Oyo People — Gov Makinde
He went further to say that his loyalty to Oyo state enabled him to record many impactful achievements. Governor Makinde said that he has been talking to quite a number of his colleagues and they said the person they handed over to, got to office and started misbehaving.
He said when he asked them how they chose the person, supported him and he later changed when he got to office, he discovered that the common trend has been that they “installed” someone who they felt would be loyal to them.
He promised that, moving forward, we don’t want to return to the period of political violence irrespective of party affiliations.
Honestly, I agree almost totally with Governor Seyi Makinde. I will start from the issue of political violence raised by him.
I agree that Oyo state can not afford to live with an era of political violence. We are too sophisticated for that nonsense but let us ask ourselves, did Governor Seyi Makinde forget Mukaila Auxiliary, his self acclaimed ‘ soldier ‘ and ‘ security ‘ when he was making that statement?
Did he forget the fact that Mukaila Auxiliary led PDP thugs to Eruwa during the 2021 Local Government election conducted by the OYSIEC under him and on that day, four innocent lives were lost in Eruwa?
Did he forget that in 2023, when he was campaigning at Igangan in Ibarapa North Local Government, the same Mukaila Auxiliary attacked the people of Igangan and in the process, many lives were lost?
Governor Makinde himself was at Igangan on the fateful day and Mukaila Auxiliary later admitted that he was on their entourage when the violence happened even though, he claimed to be the victim.
Did Governor Makinde forget the toddler who was allegedly crushed to death at Ogbomosho when he campaigned at the place in 2023?
Mukaila Auxiliary was also fingered in the ugly episode. Has Governor Makinde forgotten the unfortunate incident of Rahman at Iwo Road?Was it the APC or the ADC that were accused of these wicked acts?
Honestly, Governor Makinde’s greatest weakness is the fact that he is failing to identify his weakness. His major weakness is that he is not good at making speeches and it does look like his ego would allow him to subject his public utterances to scrutiny by experts.
How on earth would you have Auxiliary as a baggage and you are still the one talking to us about era of political violence!
Auxiliary was a needless menace, properly taken care by Ajimobi but Makinde woke him up, weaponized him, unleashed him on innocent citizens of Oyo state and protected him until he became dangerous to him and Seye Famojuro.
If Auxiliary didn’t cross the line. If he didn’t look at the face of the deity, wouldn’t he still be a menace to the public as we speak?
That leads me to the issue of loyalty. I am surprised that Governor Makinde is claiming loyalty to the people of Oyo state now.
Auxiliary was a menace to the citizens of Oyo state for over four years. No matter how the people complain, Governor Makinde was not moved. He was adamant. To him, Auxiliary was an asset to be protected and nurtured.
There was this story that when Auxiliary destroyed Tinubu’s Bill Boards in 2023 and police from Abuja came to arrest him, he allegedly ran to the Government House and Governor Makinde was alleged to have personally stood as surety for him to avoid an arrest.
It is common knowledge, how Governor Seyi Makinde threw caution to the wind and became livid just because Senator Teslim Folarin called Auxiliary what he truly is, an ex convict.On that occasion, Governor Makinde nearly brought down the building in defense of Auxiliary.
However, when the same Auxiliary started spilling the beans, exposing Governor Makinde and Seye Famojuro, he was quickly bundled and clamped in detention.
Is that what loyalty to the people of Oyo state means? The fellow, Auxiliary, was killing, maiming and terrorizing innocent citizens of the state and he was protected by the Governor but when he started attacking the Governor and Seye Famojuro, he was immediately picked up. Loyalty indeed!
I think it is also time to awaken Governor Makinde’s consciousness to the fact that we are not in a one party system.
Honestly, I don’t know why Governor Makinde is so confident that once he nominates someone as Governorship candidate for whatever party he would eventually find himself, then, the election of that candidate is sacrosanct.
That belief is not only erroneous, it is delusional. When he was making the delusional statement about how his successor would emerge, an event that conveys far reaching consequences on his predicaments was happening in Abuja.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC released a new timetable for the 2027 general election. According to the new timetable, conduct of party primaries will commence on the 23rd of April and end on 30th May, 2026.
As we speak, Governor Makinde and his co-travelers are still awaiting the judgment of the Court of Appeal which will determine their status within the PDP. Pending that judgment, he and others stand expelled from the PDP.So, where is the time for them to put, even their House in order?
Interestingly, Governor Makinde said he won’t leave the PDP despite the fact that he has been expelled from the same party! I have said it before and I want to repeat it as a matter of concern.
Governor Makinde needs rest. Stress is an enemy to man. If stress becomes too much, it has a way of affecting everything about someone. It affects reasoning. It affects composure. At first, I considered Governor Makinde’s statement as something that provides me with some amusement but I later became sympathetic to his course.
I began by saying that even though, May 29, 2027 appears a long time and that in the case of Governor Seyi Makinde, the time is short.
Let me now explain what I mean by that.
Party primaries will now begin by April. Governor Makinde is already behind schedule for the time he personally chose to announce his anointed candidate. Presently, he doesn’t belong to any political party, having been expelled from the PDP.
His fate and that of his followers is in the hands of the judiciary and the case they are having in court might proceed to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal might have delivered its judgment. Political campaign activities are scheduled to commence by August, 2026.
Now, tell me, how will a man live through this extremely complicated and clumsy scenario? Oh, for Governor Makinde, things are seriously complicated. I can see that he is trying so hard to stay strong.
It will only make things worse.
Honestly, I sympathize with GSM.
Sola Abegunde.
