Some months before the 2019 general election, disaster struck in Ibarapa East.
Michael Olusegun Adeyemo, the then Speaker of the Oyo state House of Assembly died.
Adeyemo was elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
He was from Lanlate and his demise meant that a By-election to fill his vacant seat was inevitable.
Seyi Makinde, who was at the time the face of the opposition to the ruling Party, led by the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi saw the By-election as the perfect opportunity to build a momentum and did not miss the chance.
His Party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presented Adebo Ogundoyin, son of the late Chief Adeseun Ogundoyin as its candidate.
There was an unofficial understanding between the Eruwa and Lanlate Communities before that time which favored rotation between the two Communities.
The late Speaker, Adeyemo was from Lanlate Community and even, I, thought that in the spirit of fairness and respect for the rotational understanding, someone from Lanlate ought to have been allowed to complete the tenure of Adeyemo.
The Candidate of the APC for the By-election was from Lanlate while the PDP presented Adebo Ogundoyin from Eruwa.
The Accord Party also presented a good friend of mine Adepoju Adebodun from Lanlate as its candidate.
Let me say here that Eruwa has six Wards to Lanlate’s four.
When the Campaign for the By-election commenced, Eng. Seyi Makinde relocated to Eruwa.
He copied the Fayose style of politics.
I saw him on Okadar. I saw a picture of him, buying and eating roasted corn on the streets of Eruwa!
What did he not do to convince the people about his genuine love for the masses?
All manner of sentiments were whipped up in favor of Debo Ogundoyin.
All manner of promises were made to the Eruwa Community by Eng. Seyi Makinde and the PDP.
I have to say that the bonds that exists today between the Eruwa Council of Elders, Samuel Adebayo Adegbola and Governor Seyi Makinde was forged right from that time and I wasn’t surprised when, even after the Supreme court judgment, Governor Makinde was still searching for ways to illegally return Adegbola as the Eleruwa of Eruwa.
That is why it took him about six years before he came up with a laughable excuse that eventually favored the illegal return of Adegbola as Eleruwa.
Debo Ogundoyin won that By-election.
He was victorious in all the six Wards of Eruwa, the APC candidate won in all the four Wards of Lanlate and the rest, as they say, is history.
The momentum built in Eruwa during that By-election propelled the PDP to the Government House in Oyo state in 2019.
Now, how has Eruwa fared under Governor Makinde since 2019?
You do not need to look too far.
The 48 kilometers Ido/Eruwa road would tell you the story of Eruwa and Governor Seyi Makinde.
He has made several unfulfilled promises to complete the said road and the last promise he made with respect to the road was the one he made when he went to Eruwa to install a controversial character as the Eleruwa of Eruwa.
At the event, Governor Makinde apologized profusely as he used to do and asked for another 11 months within which to complete the road.
Not only that. His promises to upgrade the Eruwa Farm Settlement to an Agric hub has also turned to another political statement.
Sometimes last year, he organized a kind of a circus by gathering a crowd of people comprising the Eruwa Elders Council, some Chiefs and together with Debo Ogundoyin, they claimed that the Oyo state Government was handing over the 4,000 hectares Eruwa Farm Settlement, including the Eruwa Waterworks to some unknown entities.
Up till today, nothing is happening at the place and the local Farmers at the Settlement are in constant fear of the unknown.
The Eruwa Cashew Plantation, is also now been put up for sale by the Government of Seyi Makinde.
All the road contracts awarded by Governor Makinde within Eruwa since he became Governor in 2019 have been abandoned.
During the 2021 Local Government election, Mukaila Auxiliary led a Group of PDP thugs to rig election in favor of the PDP in Eruwa and in the mayhem created, four innocent lives were lost.
Up till today, Governor Makinde never deemed it fit to condole with the Community and the families of those who lost their loved ones.
In fact, a few days after the unfortunate incident, Governor Makinde was in Eruwa and he seized the opportunity of the visit to chide those who had the audacity to challenge Debo Ogundoyin.
According to him, the Community ought to have agreed with the choice of the Oyo state Speaker of the House of Assembly.
For supporting Governor Makinde to build a momentum that helped him in 2019, Eruwa Community have gotten nothing but failed promises to show for it.
There is a very disturbing trajectory about the whole thing.
It does look like Governor Makinde has sworn to punish those who helped him at one time or the other.
Former Governor Fayose, the Coalition partners of 2019, his erstwhile Deputy, Wike, Tinubu and a host of others are typical examples.
Governor Makinde finished the patching of the road between Orita in Eruwa to Lanlate.
He did the road between Igboora and Igangan before the 2023 general election.
However, despite promising to complete the Ido/Eruwa road by December, 2023, he has failed to keep the promise.
Up till today, Governor Makinde has not commissioned a single project in Eruwa.
That is the reward Eruwa got from supporting him to build a momentum for 2019.
When I read that he has given the Bodija Market Traders a Bus and that he promised to do the roads at the market, I laughed and shook my head.
The only reason Governor Makinde is pretending to turn attention to Bodija is because of the By-election slated for August 16, 2025.
My simple advice to those concerned is run! Do not believe the Governor.
Governor Makinde will give you the Eruwa treatment.
In 2023, when Governor Makinde sensed danger of rejection in Eruwa, he quickly came to town, met with his usual allies, the Eruwa Elders Council and told them that he would finish up the Ido/Eruwa road by December of 2023.
In fact, to demonstrate his seriousness, he gave the road to two contractors, one of them would start from the Ido end of the road, while the other one would start from New Eruwa.
A ceremony was arranged at New Eruwa and the Elders Council, together with PDP supporters celebrated wildly.
Unknown to them, Governor Makinde merely awarded 12 out of the total 48 kilometers stretch of the road and he was promising to complete the road by December of 2023!
Governor Makinde just told the public, though inadvertently last year, that he was fooling those he gave the promise of December completion date to.
Now that he has taken his tricks to Ibadan North, the reasonable questions that any right thinking person should ask Governor Makinde are: why now?
Did he just wake up from a dream where he saw that the roads within the Bodija Market are bad?
Is he just discovering that the Bodija Market Traders need a Bus?
If Governor Makinde has been releasing the monthly Allocations for Local Governments, wouldn’t the Market roads have been done by the Ibadan North Local Government before now?
Governor Makinde sure knows how to make people feel important when he needs them but he also knows how to abandon and mock them when he no longer needs them.
For people of Ibadan North, before you trust Governor Makinde and the PDP, look at Eruwa.
SOLA ABEGUNDE
