I have just read some snippet of a Radio interview granted by Chief Bisi Olopoeyan, a chieftain of the Allied People’s Movement, APM.
After reading through the points he made on the Radio program, I have to say that I agree almost completely with his reasoning and the points he raised.
In fact, this is the second time I will find myself agreeing with Chief Olopoeyan on political issues.
The first time I did was when a video of him went viral. In that video, he was seen making a strong point about the fact that Governor Seyi Makinde had neglected everyone who assisted him to become Governor in 2019.
He raised very valid points and was very bold, albeit, livid while driving home his points. I completely understood his anger and I agreed with him at the time.
If you sacrificed so much, you deserve to be patronized. I think things have changed for the better now but before I go into the points raised by Chief Olopoeyan this time around, let me flip back to an issue of interest over the last weekend.
The Speaker of the Oyo state House of Assembly, Adebo Ogundoyin made some reckless comments about the security situation and the abduction of Teachers and Pupils in Oyo state.
I wrote about it and I condemned Debo Ogundoyin’s Insensitivity to the issue at hand.
His Media Aide, one Oyetunji Oyekunle had a negative pregnant about my observations and he made two separate rejoinders to my comments.
I was very glad at the development because it’s the first time I’m seeing that the office of Media Aide to the Speaker actually exists.
Since the gentleman has now realized that he has a job to do, it pleases us to get him busy.
I woke up this morning and I saw the position of renowned journalist and teacher, Farooq Kperogi regarding the comments attributed to Debo Ogundoyin, which I responded to and which obviously didn’t sit well with the Oyo state Speaker.
Kperogi is of the firm view that the conditions which are allegedly put forward by the terrorists as conditions for the release of the Oriire abducted victims and which Debo Ogundoyin amplified on the floor of the Oyo state House of Assembly lacks “a firm evidentiary foundation”!
He went further to say that ‘the four -point demand list that is now being hawked across social media as fact is not supported by any credible reporting ‘.
In fact, he referenced the comments by Debo Ogundoyin by saying, “… The source of the social media -fueled four -point demand list appears to be a vague statement attributed to the Speaker of the Oyo state House of Assembly, Debo Ogundoyin. He was reported to have asked whether anyone would negotiate with terrorists if they asked for weapons, money or concessions on future laws of the land as part of their ransom”.
Yorubas have a saying that it is only the reasoning of the mad man that is always different. ( Oro asiwere lo nyato).
I have made my points about the reckless comments by Debo Ogundoyin and I stand by them till tomorrow.
Here, we have another opinion from a more respected angle, what will be the response of Debo Ogundoyin to this fresh opinion?
When you find yourself in high positions, you have to develop yourself to a point where you have an almost absolute control of what you say, when to say them and how you say them.
Most importantly, you should be able to know when not to talk.
If Oyekunle is still spoiling for a war, I suggest he takes Mr. Farooq Kperogi up on his opinion about the Speaker.
Let us now go back to Alhaji Olopoeyan. He granted an interview with the ace Broadcaster, Abiodun Adewole popularly known as Mr. Double A and he declared that “…any chairman unable to publicly account for his stewardship should be held responsible….”.
This is a valid point and I agree with him completely. He went further to say and I quote him “….. Local government did not die in Oyo state. It is still existing and working. If anybody says local governments are struggling, then we need to ask the local government Chairmen because they are the ones who can answer such questions”.
This is also a valid point and I also agree completely with him.
Alhaji Olopoeyan added an icing on the cake when he said and I quote “….. that accountability should begin with elected local government Chairmen”… urging them “..to make themselves available for public scrutiny and explain how they have managed the resources at their disposal”.
Haa! Bravo! Bravo! Alhaji!!
Alhaji Olopoeyan challenged Council Chairmen in the state to appear on radio programmes and provide detailed accounts of their stewardship to residents.
” If any local government Chairman cannot come on air and explain what he has been doing with the resources available to his council, then something is wrong with that Chairman. The people deserve to know what their elected leaders are doing”.
I now want to tell Alhaji Olopoeyan that a lot of things are wrong with the Administration of Local Government in Oyo state and the Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde is culpable.
I agree with his submissions that the Chairmen should come out and defend themselves and give accounts of their stewardship but I disagree with him for saying that it is not the Governor who is responsible for the inability of the Local Government Chairmen to account for the resources of the local Governments.
Governor Seyi Makinde did not hide his belief that Local Governments shouldn’t be in existence regardless of what the Constitution says about their existence.
Governor Seyi Makinde is also not hiding the fact that he has been spending the resources of the 33 Local Governments through an arrangement he labeled ‘ partnership with the Local Governments ‘.
Some of us have raised serious issues about Governor Makinde’s illegal withdrawals of funds belonging to the 33 Local Governments.
We have raised serious allegations about illegal diversions of the funds belonging to the 33 Local Governments.
We have alleged that Governor Seyi Makinde have been supervising the illegal sales of assets belonging to the Local Governments and we provided facts.
We have raised issues about how Governor Seyi Makinde has taken over the responsibilities and revenues accruing from garages, Parks and other public spaces which ought to provide sources of extra revenues for the local governments.
I am surprised that Alhaji Olopoeyan said that the local governments are working despite the fact that they are almost comatose.
I am however happy that someone who is very close to the Governor has now come up to challenge the local government Chairmen on the issue of accountability.
I will want to appeal to Alhaji Olopoeyan to leverage on his cordial relationship with the Governor to plead with him for the local government Chairmen to make public the following information:
How much has each local governments received from 2019 till date? How much does each local government in Oyo state pay as salaries on a monthly basis? How many times has the local governments obtained loans and for what purposes? What are the list of projects executed by individual local governments from 2019 till date? How many contracts has each of the local governments awarded from 2019 till date?
Will each local government furnish the public with the names of contractors they have engaged from 2019 till date and the costs of contracts awarded?
How much has each of the 33 Local Governments received as VAT and IGR from 2019 to date?
Is there a time funds were moved from the local governments to a particular local government, if yes, which local government and for what purpose?
How many contracts, giving specific details, has the Heads of Local Government Administration, HLAs of each local government signed from 2019 to date?
Will each local government give accounts for the assets they inherited, most especially, tractors, graders, borehole drilling machines, refuse trucks and what has become of them?
These are very crucial points which, if well accounted for, not only the local government Chairmen but also the Governor must be given kudos.
However, will the local government Chairmen ever dare to present information about this seemingly harmless information?
I bet they won’t. So, the matter is not as simple as Alhaji Olopoeyan presented them.
The local government Chairmen’s hands are tied and I believe Alhaji Olopoeyan knows this facts and he also knows that the local government Chairmen would not dare to oppose him.
The position of the chairman of a Local Government, under Governor Seyi Makinde, is like a golden cage and I pity the toothless lions kept in the cage.
I will be waiting for how the Governor and the local government Chairmen respond to this.
Honestly, I really hope for them to disappoint me by providing information about the issues I raised.
Sola Abegunde.
