Just recently, I invited Governor Seyi Makinde’s attention to the message of the talking drum. ( Baba mo gba, beeyen ntan e, ma tan ara re).
From the look of things, those who will profit from a Governor Seyi Makinde’s presidential misadventures have rolled out their own drums and the sound of the beat is very clear, ( a o merin joba, eweku ewele).
Everyone who read the’ Alawiye’ series by J. F Odunjo knows what eventually became of the Elephant that was deceived by fellow animals to assume the Kingship of the jungle.
In a jungle where Tigers roam, any dog that strays into such a jungle automatically becomes minced meat.
Dapo Ogunwusi’s piece on Governor Seyi Makinde offers a mixture of fun, misinformation and misrepresentation of facts.
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Mr. Ogunwusi is said to be a Legal practitioner and a former Editor of the Nigerian Tribune.
Any time I read about supposed professional’s reference to disgruntled politicians as ‘ political jobbers ‘, it always annoys me.
A lot of people do not know what politics entails, yet, they found it easy to denigrate politicians by qualifying them with derogatory adjectives.
Incidentally, some of them are worse than the politicians they enjoy denigrating.
How would Mr. Ogunwusi describe a radio personality who took his birthday cake to a Governor in the Government House and returned with a gift of a SUV?
What name would Mr. Ogunwusi give to such an individual?
Like I said, many people out there don’t know the kind of sacrifice that politicians made before some people are called ‘ Governors’.
They can never understand because, while politicians were making sacrifices, they were probably in some beer parlour, sipping beer and consuming pepper soup.
Only for them to surface with iPads and laptops, bringing ideas that will provide them with something to eat from a table they contributed nothing to its setting up and when those who made sacrifices but were shortchanged began to agitate, they will be the ones to call them names.
What kind of a society are we building?
I have carefully perused the arguments of Mr. Dapo Ogunwusi in his write up and I say that they are filled with mischief, misrepresentation and deceit.
His account of the coalition of political forces that succeeded in ensuring that Governor Seyi Makinde won an election for the first time ever in 2019 is to say the least, inaccurate and unfortunate.
According to him, after becoming Governor in 2019 Governor Makinde had a choice to make between standing with the people or, listening to disgruntled coalition partners who he wrongly accused of struggling for visibility and sustenance.
He assumed that Makinde chose the people over those he assumed were struggling for visibility and sustenance.
That is a height of disrespect to the prominent personalities involved and a deliberate misrepresentation the facts.
Before the coalition was forged, is Mr. Ogunwusi aware of the fact that certain promises were made by Governor Seyi Makinde and agreements reached with those who forfeited their ambition for him to be victorious in an election for the first time ever in his life?
Does Mr. Ogunwusi want the public to take him serious that prominent personalities like Senator, Chief Olufemi Lanlehin, Hon. Mrs. Mulikat Adeola and many others like them are political jobbers?
Does Mr Ogunwusi know that before 2019, Seyi Makinde had contested to be a Senator and Governor of Oyo state and he failed woefully?
Does he know that most of those he referred to as ‘ political jobbers ‘ are individuals who have not only excelled in private callings but they have also contested elections for the Senate and House of Representatives and they won unlike Seyi Makinde who had no record of electoral success as at 2019?
So, Governor Makinde didn’t know they were political jobbers when he stooped, begged and grooved to get their support but he suddenly discovered that they were parasites immediately he got their backing and become Governor?
With people like Mr. Ogunwusi around, no person in position of authority will do well.
When he said Makinde chose the people over those he called ‘ political jobbers ‘, does he mean by the Governor’s misappropriation of the resources of the 33 Local Governments?
Or is it by Governor Makinde’s reckless borrowings?
What the coalition partners were demanding was simple.
Governor Makinde agreed that they will nominate one or two names for appointments pure and simple and he reneged on that promise.
How did that become an impediment to good governance?
Governor Makinde betrayed those who assisted him to become Governor in 2019 and no one can change that fact.
He has done the same thing to those who assisted him to get a second term in office in 2023 and unlike those who assisted him in 2019, these ones are not taking it lying low.
That brings me to the reference to President Tinubu as ‘ a champion of minimum accountability and subterfuge ‘ by Mr. Ogunwusi.
I know that people like him must be sure of raking some personal benefits if Seyi Makinde is deceived to throw his hat into the presidential ring but, I think in trying to push for the expected benefits, one doesn’t need to display mediocrity.
Bola Tinubu, according to Ogunwusi, is a champion of minimum accountability and subterfuge, yet, Governor Makinde practically abandoned his primary assignments as Governor of Oyo state and together with the G-5, they were chasing Tinubu all over the Globe in 2023, seeking his endorsement!
Didn’t Governor Makinde know that Tinubu was a man of minimum accountability and subterfuge at the time?
Governor Makinde was the one who was displaced at the time and he needed Tinubu’s protection and he did get it.
That is the only reason he is the Governor of Oyo state for a second term today.
Mr. Ogunwusi is honestly endowed with the ability to crack jokes.
He said Makinde ensured that Tinubu won his election in Oyo state.
Ok o, why couldn’t he ensure that his candidates for the Senate and House of Representatives win like Wike did in Rivers state?
If he had been able to do what Wike did, there wouldn’t have been any reason to doubt his popularity.
His Senatorial candidates and majority of PDP’s House of Representatives candidates lost because the APC was stronger than the PDP and he won the gubernatorial contest only because Tinubu decided to honor the agreement he had with the G-5.
Governor Makinde himself admitted to this facts on Radio when he said he received help from the APC.
So, where did Mr. Ogunwusi get his contrary but baseless facts from?
I don’t know why some people decide to get into a negative pregnant about Governor Makinde’s purported presidential ambition.
Is anyone begging him not to contest?
If a child is intent on catching leprosy, no one begs him not to do so, he must however be prepared to live alone in the jungle. ( A kii ni ki omode ma da ete, to ba ti le da inu igbo gbe).
I am surprised that, as a Lawyer, Mr. Ogunwusi still thinks that Governor Makinde is right to have said that the 30 billion Naira he received from the same Tinubu who he referred to as a champion of minimum accountability and subterfuge is ‘ intact ‘, after almost two years that he has received the huge sum of money.
Did he collect the money so that it would remain intact while those on whose behalf it was received are languishing in pains?
The fact that Fayose claimed that the money received was 50 billion Naira as against the 30 billion Naira confirmed by Governor Makinde after series of denials doesn’t remove anything from the fact that Governor Makinde is not transparent with the way he has handled the receipt of the money in question.
I am equally surprised that Mr. Ogunwusi want us to overlook the fact that Governor Makinde purportedly kept 30 billion Naira belonging to the public in a designated Bank account for over a year and the said amount does not attract interests or deductions.
Yet, he would want us to believe that Tinubu is a champion of minimum accountability and subterfuge while Seyi Makinde is an angel.
I laughed when I saw him referred to the proof presented by Fayose as pitiable.
Which is more pitiable? The proof by Fayose that forced Governor Makinde to admit that he received 30 billion Naira or Governor Makinde’s claims that he has kept the money for over a year without informing anyone?
Let me even ask, where was Mr. Ogunwusi when Governor Makinde built a Bus terminal for about 6 billion Naira?
Where was he when Governor Makinde admitted that the contractor who handled the Light Up Oyo project for over 40 billion Naira failed to deliver to specifications and promised to investigate the matter without doing so till today?
Where was he when Governor Makinde was accused of awarding the contract for the production of exercise books for over two thousand Naira per one exercise book?
People like Mr. Ogunwusi must have forgotten these facts or perhaps pretend to have forgotten but we have not forgotten.
Like I said, no one, including President Tinubu has said that Governor Makinde should not contest for the presidency.
Honestly, I would personally love it.
Let him throw his hat into the ring and let’s see how far he will go.
Honestly, if one takes another look at it, it does appear like Mr. Ogunwusi and others have either been contracted or they have taken it upon themselves to shake the tables so that Tinubu, the ‘ champion of minimum accountability and subterfuge ‘ will once again give Makinde another deal in 2027.
It ain’t gonna work this time around.
Let Governor Makinde rally the hungry and the angry.
Let him challenge Tinubu for the presidency and let the likes of Mr. Ogunwusi continue to beat the drum.
‘ A o merin joba, eweku ewele…!
Sola Abegunde.
