When I was writing the piece titled, ‘ Seyi Makinde: A Governor And Loads Of Unanswered Questions ‘ yesterday, I did not know that our own Governor Makinde was playing the Ostrich in a similar matter.
Just this morning, I saw his reaction to the altercations between the Hon. Minister for Works, H. E Dave Umahi and Arise TV Journalist, Rufai Oseni.
I am not going to defend or pass a judgement on either of Umahi and Oseni.
My concern however is the fact that someone like Governor Seyi Makinde will see such an incident as a topic to pontificate and present himself as one public official who is above Board.
Governor Makinde alleged that Dave Umahi chose to be dancing around the questions thrown at him by Rufai Oseni and went ahead to talk about how public officials are duty bound to provide information about projects executed with tax payers resourcees.
Good! No, wonderful but does Makinde think he is different from the Minister for Works?
Is he not even worse?
I have kept saying it. Governor Seyi Makinde is so simple to catch.
There is nothing special about his trump up personality.
He is festering only because of the criminal conspiracy of a heavily compromised and in some instances, indolent Media.
Now that the Governor of Oyo state has once again exposed his rump to a raging wind, we will help him display his nakedness.
I understand and I agree that the Governor of Oyo state has unfettered freedom to air his opinion about Dave Umahi.
Now, let us apply the same measurements with which he measured the Minister for Works to judge his own attitude as a public official.
Since Makinde became Governor in 2019, he has been giving out gifts of cars and SUVs to all manner of people of different backgrounds.
Journalists, musicians, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Local Government Party Chairmen and state Executives.
Now, I want to ask Governor Makinde to tell the public, from which resources he has been buying these car gifts.
Is it from his private pocket and if this is the case, will he show us proof or are those cars bought with public funds?
If they are bought with public funds, will he justify such recklessness?
I have been asking Governor Makinde to educate the public about his relationship with Seye Famojuro whose name is always being mentioned around his Government and its policies, to the extent that a worried woman who was about to lose her property at the Circular road referred to the fellow as his ‘ Deputy ‘ ( Seyi Makinde ati Igbakeji e, Seye).
The individual, Seye Famojuro, is not holding a public office known to the public, yet, anytime controversies relating to Makinde’s Government and landed properties are being discussed, his name will crop up.
In fact, I have heard even Local Government Chairmen referring to Seye Famojuro as ‘ Oga’.
The hapless fellows at Egbeda, who spent their Christmas and New year at detention sometimes ago also mentioned his name when they recorded a video to complain about the intentions of the Oyo state Government to seize their land from them.
Mukaila Auxiliary, in several interviews, before he was nabbed and charged for murder, raised serious issues about the resources of the PMS, how he was invited to join the Governor prior to 2019 general election and what jobs were given to him and in all these, he kept mentioning Seye’s name.
Will Governor Makinde, in the light of his criticisms of Dave Umahi provide the public with exactly the roles of Seye Famojuro in his Government?
Or is it that the Markets, public spaces and the PMS resources where his name kept being mentioned are Governor Makinde’s private properties?
I have made repeated demands from Governor Makinde about some abandoned road projects in Eruwa and Lanlate.
I specifically pointed to the Eruwa New Garage Junction-Poly-Oke-Ola road, Alayande junction/Isaba- Ogundoyin Road and the road within the Oyo state College of Education, Lanlate.
These road projects were awarded during Governor Makinde’s first term.
It is alleged that a sibling of the Oyo state House of Assembly Speaker got the contracts.
Sadly, the projects were abandoned all through Makinde’s first term and until recently, when a document surfaced, stating that the same projects were again approved and funds allocated to them.
I read through the purported fresh approval and I saw that no mention was made about the previous approvals and no information provided about the previous contracts.
Now, I want our Saintly Governor Makinde to tell the public, what was the cost of the initial contracts? Who got the contracts? Has the initial contracts been cancelled? If yes, why? Was funds released to the contractor? If yes, how much and was the work done commensurate with what was released? Who is the new contractor?
Before I forget, may I remind the Governor that I asked questions and demanded clarifications about the incongruous manner with which a particular project in the fresh approval was described and I’m yet to get an answer? Or, I am also too small to make such demands?
I specifically mentioned the project titled ‘ Lanlate Garage Junction-Poly-Oke-Ola road ‘ and I demanded to know if the road being described will be rehabilitated from Lanlate Garage – Orita- New Garage – Local Government – Poly- Oke-Ola Junction and no clarification have been made by the Oyo state Government till now.
I also said that if the road being described in the fresh approval remains the New Garage Junction-Poly-Oke-Ola road which was earlier awarded and abandoned, it will be the height of criminality to claim that that little stretch of road is up to a kilometer.
Not only that, I raised questions about the approved funds attached in the fresh approval.
Over 4b Naira for a road project of less than 2 kilometers?
I am yet to receive any response from the Oyo state Government till now.
I also wish to ask the Governor to confirm or deny the facts that about 350m Naira belonging to Ibarapa East Local Government was approved by him to take care of Guests during the Coronation of Samuel Adebayo Adegbola and another sum of 850m Naira, belonging to Ibarapa East Local Government was also approved for the rehabilitation of the Eleruwa Palace.
I have asked these questions without getting a response from Governor Makinde but now that he suddenly discovered that public officials ought to provide information to the public about tax payers money, I wish to repeat the questions.
If 350m Naira was released for the Coronation of Samuel Adebayo Adegbola to cater for Guests during the occasion, who exactly got the money and will the Governor provide the public with the breakdown of how the money was spent?
Who is the contractor handling the rehabilitation of the Eleruwa Palace?
At least, these projects are being done with public funds and according to Governor Makinde, the public deserves answers to the questions being raised.
The Ido-Eruwa road project of 48 kilometers have become a riddle which Governor Makinde could not solve for over six years now.
When he assumed office in 2019, he publicly declared that he caught some ‘ thieves ‘ who he claimed embezzled the funds meant for the rehabilitation of the said road.
In the light of his new found desires of providing information about public funds, will Governor Makinde tell the public, the identities of the ‘ thieves ‘ who embezzled the funds meant for the rehabilitation of the Ido/ Eruwa road and how he dealt with them?
Even if you will be hypocritical, you have to be clever about it.
With due respect to Governor Makinde, in the case of Dave Umahi, he is hypocritical and he is not clever about it.
There is nothing he is accusing the Works Minister for that he, himself, is not guilty of in hundred folds.
He has been telling us one fake narratives and the other about the Agbowo Shopping Complex, yet, the edifice remains an eyesore.
He said he would be exporting maize to Botswana if he became Governor, he was elected Governor and yet, no stick of maize was planted.
In 2023, he joined the G-5 and supported Tinubu as an act of survival.
Today, he is the chief critics of Tinubu.
In character and in politics, he is inconsistent.
He went to Eruwa to flag off the rehabilitation of the Ido-Eruwa road and promised that by December of that same year, the 48 kilometers project would be completed.
Surprisingly, sometimes ago, he admitted that by the time he did the flag off and promised to complete the project within a few months, only 12 out of the 48 kilometers stretch of the road was actually contracted out!
This is the kind of person who is talking about accountability.
President Tinubu said monthly Allocations for States and Local Governments have tripled since he removed fuel subsidies.
We have been asking Governor Makinde to tell the public the figures he has been receiving on behalf of Oyo state and the 33 Local Governments and how the increase has impacted positively on governance.
Did he oblige us those information? Or is it that we are too small to ask him those questions?
Sometimes ago, a brother of mine wrote his Government, asking for information about the contractors who will be handling certain projects attached to a controversial loan his Government obtained.
The Oyo state Government wasted no time in dismissing his request, saying that they can’t provide him with such information.
Yet, Governor Makinde had the mouth to chastise Dave Umahi?
The Ostrich is a silly bird.
It feels safe, hiding just its small head in the sand while its massive body is exposed!
The Ostrich!!
Sola Abegunde.
