Seyi Makinde: A Governor And Loads Of Unanswered Questions _ By Sola Abegunde
When I read Governor Seyi Makinde’s reaction to the ‘ Emi Lo Kan ‘ declaration by Bayo Adelabu, I laughed and wondered how quick the Governor always found his voice any time he wants to be hypocritical and at the same time, he loses his voice when he is asked to account for his actions as Governor of Oyo state.
I don’t intend to speak for Adelabu.
The Minister for Power should respond to Makinde if he wants.
However, I have discovered that Governor Makinde kept leveraging on the highly compromised Media environment to act like some kind of Champion which in actual facts, he is not.
I have said so sometimes that Governor Makinde has his comfort zones where he is allowed to flow and dictate the pace and he has kept oiling the engine.
Within that comfort zone, in the midst of his conquered Press, you will think he is Cicero incarnate but if you know how to manage to draw him out of that space, he is just a fish out of water.
Some days ago, I read a piece of news where it was reported that he gifted another car to an online Media Consultant.
You can imagine if such a fellow would ever see anything bad in Makinde and his Government but I am sorry to disappoint the Governor, when it matters most, those compromised Press guys won’t be enough to save him.
I watched a video of a gentleman who I believe, shot the clip from abroad and he was eulogizing Governor Makinde, hailing him as some kind of a Capone in Oyo state politics.
If you look at it on the surface, the gentleman would appear to be correct but on a deeper look at events that shaped Makinde’s victories both in 2019 and 2023, the gentleman, with due respect is not totally right.
You have to give it to Governor Seyi Makinde.
He knows how to make use of people whenever he needed them and do away with them when he’s done with them but overall, he is just a man whose palm kernels got cracked by benevolent Spirits on the two occasions he won elections as Governor.
Before he got elected as Governor in 2019, how many times has he contested elections and lost?
He contested for Senate and lost.
He contested to be Governor in 2015 and lost woefully.
In 2015, he came a distant fifth despite spending the most.
In fact, he garnered less than fifty thousand votes in 2015.
The experiences of his failed attempts are the reflections of his political strength until he bowed down to reality in 2019.
The stories of how the present Olubadan put together a coalition of political forces which earned him his first victory ever in his political career is known to all and sundry.
The records of how he betrayed majority of the coalition partners are also public knowledge.
In 2023, Governor Makinde was gone for good and even though, I don’t expect him to admit this fact publicly, many of us, including himself know that his saving grace was the alliance between the current president and the now defunct and decimated G-5.
So, what is so unique about someone who has never won an election on his own?
Someone who leveraged on the goodwill of others to climb the ladder to the top?
Some of us know how the present Olubadan fought the establishments within the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP before he became Governor in 2003.
Before then, he had been elected as a Senator representing Oyo South Senatorial District under the Social Democratic Party, SDP.
You can also talk of the late Chief Kolapo Olawuyi Isola who made a mark as Akinyele Local Government Chairman before he got elected as Governor under the SDP.
The late Lam Adesina is another typical example.
The late Governor Adebayo Alao Akala should not be forgotten.
He had been elected as a Local Government Chairman under an opposition Party, the then All People’s Party, APP.
These men, dead or alive, became Governors as a result of their political and social antecedents added to well organized political party structures.
Prior to 2023, Seyi Makinde had no structures capable of winning even a House of Representatives election.
The only thing known about him is the fact that they say he was a rich man.
I do not know how to record him as a super hero when, even up till today, he has not won an election without receiving help from outside his personal or political party structures.
The gentleman also made references to how Governor Makinde has been ‘ harvesting ‘ from the APC recently and mentioned some names.
For me, Governor Makinde’s fate will not be decided by the number of gluttonous and shameless politicians he is able to harvest from the opposition political parties.
His fate will be determined on how well he is able to answer the load of questions he has been avoiding all these while.
Moreso, what is so special in what he is doing presently?
If a mad man has the kind of resources available to the Governor and is willing to throw them around, very certainly, shameless politicians and people lacking in integrity will be flocking around him.
Won’t they? Will that bring him victory in 2027? Certainly not.
Now, let’s get to the loads of questions Governor Seyi Makinde won’t dare to answer.
Let us start from 2019 and his first day in office.
Precisely on May 29, 2019, Governor Seyi Makinde made what would eventually turn out to be an illegal order.
He dissolved Democratically elected Local Government Councils.
Not only that, he placed an embargo on spendings by the 33 Local Governments and even after he illegally appointed Caretaker Committees to supervise the activities of the Local Governments, he did not lift the embargo on spendings.
The embargo on spendings in the Local Governments lasted for about a year but unfortunately, it was alleged that the Governor was illegally making withdrawals from the said accounts belonging to the 33 Local Governments.
In fact, it was alleged that the sum of about 2b Naira which Governor Makinde paid to secure the total takeover of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH, actually belonged to the 33 Local Governments!
That is not the end of the story.
For the period of time that he kept the Caretaker Committees in office, he was just releasing a sum of 10 million Naira monthly for them and he tagged the release, ‘ security vote’.
Not only that, he wasted billions of Naira of Local Governments funds to defend his illegal dissolution of the Local Governments on May 29, 2019 up to the Supreme Court, twice, even after the Supreme Court had advised him about the illegality of his actions, through the office of the Attorney General of the Federation at the time.
Now, let’s ask Governor Makinde once again, by the time he became Governor on May, 2019, how much was in the Joint Allocations Account, JAAC?
During the time he placed an embargo on spendings by the 33 Local Governments, how much is the accumulated funds that accrued to the 33 Local Governments?
How much was spent on the needless litigations to sustain his illegal dissolution of the Local Governments?
Did he actually make withdrawals from the Local Governments accounts and if yes, will he justify the legality of such actions in view of the provisions of the Model Financial Memoranda For Local Governments?
Did he actually withdraw 2b Naira from the Local Governments funds to actualize the severance of LAUTECH from Osun state?
If yes, will he justify the withdrawal, most especially, in view of the fact that the LAUTECH is a state Government responsibility?
It is also on record that immediately he got into office in 2019, he wrote to the Oyo state House of Assembly in respect of some Loan already processed by the Ajimobi Government.
The said Loan was originally tied to infrastructural developments but the Oyo state House of Assembly, acting on Governor Seyi Makinde’s request, granted permission to the Governor to spend the Loan on the upgrades of some Farm Settlements.
Several Loans were also approved for him to spend on the proposed upgrades of these Farm Settlements.
Will Governor Makinde explain to the public, exactly how much he has expended on these Farm Settlements, Loans and direct Allocations?
Will he show the public the attachments to the Loans, as in, the specific manner of upgrades proposed and the levels of the upgrades of each of the quoted Farm Settlements?
Also, in 2019, Governor Makinde complained bitterly that the inherited debts burden of the state was inimical to the developments of the state.
He put the total debts profile of the state at less than 150b Naira at the time.
Sadly, Governor Makinde have been borrowing so recklessly to the extent that the public is now in the dark as to the exact figures Oyo state is owing.
Not only that, there has been unanswered questions as to the black market processes of approving these loans by the Oyo state House of Assembly.
Will Governor Makinde tell the public, exactly how much Oyo state is owing as at today because it is now being suspected that Oyo is no longer owing in billions but in trillions?
Governor Makinde promised to conduct enquiries into some controversial contracts awarded by his Government and up till today, he has not given any feedback to the public.
First, he said he would investigate if truly, a notebook was awarded at the sum of 3,000 Naira, allegedly, to a Broadcaster ally of his.
In fact, I remember him saying that he would resign from his position if the notebooks were awarded beyond a specific amount but till today, we haven’t heard from the Governor and this incident happened during his first tenure!
When will the Governor inform the public about his findings?
Similarly, he said he would look into the circumstances that led to the ‘ failures ‘ of the contract in respect of Light Up Oyo.
This is a project that was varied from its original cost of 28b Naira.
It went up to more than 32b Naira and Governor Makinde himself admitted that the contractor failed with respect to certain specifications.
The sad part is that Governor Makinde made this unfortunate remarks less than two years the contract was delivered.
Even though he promised to inquire into the circumstances leading to the failure of the contract almost four years ago, nothing has been heard up till today.
I want to make a few comments about the disaster called Light Up Oyo.
When Governor Makinde decided to embark on that obviously doomed project, some of us raised eyebrows as to why a Governor would spend 28b Naira to erect ordinary streetlights instead of channelling such funds on Education but the heavily compromised Press wouldn’t let us have peace.
Some of them praised the the Governor to the high heavens and talked about how the streetlights were helping in combating crimes, as if they had hands and legs and were carrying arms and ammunitions.
Now, we have all seen the disaster the project has become.
To make matters worse, Governor Makinde still have the audacity to attach the project to another set of fresh loans he obtained recently!
The project Governor Makinde admitted to its failures, in less than two years it was originally delivered and which he promised to inquire about and is yet to tell the public the results of his enquiries, will still gulp billions of Naira from a fresh loan and the Media is surprisingly quiet!
Can you see what I mean by his comfort zone?
A project like the Light Up Oyo is a complete disaster which the Media ought to be interrogating but would they dare?
Those who should be asking the questions are already in Governor Makinde’s bags.
They have collected gifts of SUVs and are being well fed with public funds contained in fat brown envelopes.
So, damn the public.
Infact, the way the bellies of some of them have continued to protrude these days is worrisome.
The pay must be very fat. So are the bellies.
It is also worthy of note to mention the Bus terminals built by Governor Seyi Makinde.
Some people do not know that each of the Bus terminals actually cost more than the 5b Naira initial sum.
The contract was also varied.
One interesting fact that members of the public might not also know is that Governor Makinde actually asked some Engineers within the civil service to work on the Bill of Quantities originally submitted by the Contractor and those ones did their jobs by recommending that the quoted amounts be reviewed downwards.
They will never forget the day they decided to do their jobs according to their expertise.
I know some of them and what they went through before they retired from service.
At the end, the quoted sums were not only approved as submitted but the contract was later varied to accommodate more sums of money.
Many things are wrong about the Bus terminals.
I just talked about the contract sums and the process of approving the contract.
The fundamental issue here is that maintenance of garages and parks are actually the responsibilities of the Local Governments according to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
In other words, Governor Makinde had no business in building those Bus terminals in the first place.
His meddlesomeness in such areas is a misplaced priority.
Secondly, the funds used to build those terminals were loans tied to the Local Governments.
It is also very illegal for the Governor to expend billions of Naira to build Bus terminals that were eventually handed over to some individuals in the name of Park Managers.
Now, I will like Governor Makinde to tell us, who is responsible for the repayments of the loans with which the terminals were built?
During a Debate program for Governorship Candidates in 2023, he said Government was realizing about 60m Naira monthly from the Bus terminals!
If that is true, may I ask him further, to tell us which Government is in charge of the IGR realized from the Bus terminals?
Is it the state Government or the Local Governments?
Can the state Government legally collect IGR from Garages?
How is the funds realized from the Bus terminals being managed and how much has been paid back since the funds used to build them is a loan?
The Court of Appeal in Ibadan just delivered a judgement that restored the activities of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW.
The Appeal Court overruled Governor Makinde’s illegal ban of the activities of the NURTW.
Will the Governor now hand over the Bus terminals to the NURTW or he would do what he does best, that is, disobey the judgment of the Court?
The condition of our public primary and secondary schools are so terrible.
Had it been that Governor Makinde spent the kind of money he wasted on the Bus terminals and Light Up Oyo on Education, Agriculture or Health facilities, would it not have been better?
Like I said, Governor Makinde is no super hero, even as a Governor.
He is merely benefitting from a decayed society that has chosen to prioritize stomach infrastructures over and above integrity.
I will have to do this piece in parts because I still have many questions for the Governor.
He has made a terrible mess of Local Government Administration and there are many issues for me to raise.
I will look forward to him providing answers to the few issues raised here for now.
Sola Abegunde.
