BY AKINWALE ABOLUWADE
Despite the odds, twists and turns against its chances at reclaiming power in Oyo State, the All Progressives Congress has its eye on taking the reins of governance from Governor Seyi Makinde of the People’s Democratic Party in 2023.
APC’s hope of taking over from the incumbent, who rose to power through support from men of diverse political enclaves, is however, seen to be readily threatened by intrigues and over-ambition by dissenting voices in the party.
Watchers and analysts are suggesting that unless the APC, arguably the leading opposition political party in the state, agrees to put its house in order now ahead of electioneering, its dream of having a good outing in the coming governorship poll would be a mirage. It is being said in some quarters that the sorry fate that betide the APC in the 2019 governorship election might repeat itself.
That year, Bayo Adelabu, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, who was the governorship standard-bearer of the APC in the state, got a jolt when he lost to the PDP candidate. Despite latching on to the advantage of incumbency provided by the late Abiola Ajimobi, Adelabu and the APC came out of the contest with fractured limbs as diverse political camps rallied to push Makinde up.
And, like a mafia in government, Makinde who had records of defeats and failings in politics before he eventually came through, clutches the rare advantage. And, as time ticks to 2023, he is striving hard to remain in the Agodi Government House for a second term in office till 2027.
While the APC in Oyo State appears inundated and undecided on its game, political analysts say that Makinde is patching up loose ends and correcting the obvious mistakes by his government while also perfecting the little successes it has so far made.
Among the errors by Makinde’s administration in the opinion of the majority of the people of the state was the choice of leadership for the Park Management System.
While the residents of the state were already tired of the bad image earned over the years by the National Union of Road Transport Workers, they were obviously also disappointed that the Makinde-led administration took the wrong step by appointing Lamidi Mukaila, aka Auxiliary, as the head of the PMS, an action that they said was tantamount to putting an old toxic wine in a new wine bottle. As applied to NURTW, the public attributes violence, bloodletting and brigandage to the current PMS.
Also, the toga of Ibadan as the dirtiest city, despite its status as second largest human enclave in Africa next to Cairo, hitherto reversed by the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi until the twilight of his administration, has since re-echoed. Heaps of refuse now litter some major streets within the metropolis without clear-cut arrangements to remedy the situation just as beggars defy efforts to settle down at Moniya to rid the city of the eyesore.
The Point was told by the opposition and those who were critical of the Makinde-led administration that both the PMS officials and the beggars were waiting tools to be used to hatch the golden eggs of a second term in office for the incumbent.
Among the shortcomings of the administration as enumerated by the main opposition political party are the failure of the state government to enforce the Anti-Open Grazing law and the execution of the streetlight project by Makinde’s administration as it continues to gulp millions of naira as the lights are powered with taxpayers’ money expended on buying diesel to light some streets instead of using the solar power. The sorry state of some of the roads also causes many people to grumble.
“Makinde is a mafia of sorts who knows how to fight while keeping the game on like a friend. That is a lethal weapon. He leverages on the power that his office bestows on him as well as his riches to bring people within his radar to agree to go with him”
Just as others in adjoining communities, residents of Aba Omo, Oganla, Alada, Ita Faaji Orisunbare, Wire and Cable, Ibadan, for instance, agonize over the sorry state of their roads which are filled with pot holes and craters.
Barring the odds, a journalist who insisted on confidentiality, lamented that instead of making good use of the advantage by putting their house in order to give Makinde a run for his money in the coming election, the leading opposition is simply making frantic efforts to fail as it did in 2019.
Opinion moulders noted that Makinde is growing in stature and popularity thereby making a dwarf of his political opponents and foes.
Kunle Oyekale, an analyst based in Ibadan, said that “Not in negative terms really, but as far as I can see, Governor Makinde is a mafia of sorts who knows how to fight while keeping the game on like a friend. That is a lethal weapon. He leverages on the power that his office bestows on him as well as his riches to bring people within his radar to agree to go with him. If Makinde doesn’t want you, he keeps you far away. If he needs you, he keeps you at a comfortable distance. No, he won’t bring you too close because that might be dangerous for him. That is the way of a mafia. The likes of Governor Ayo Fayose and Sunday Adeyemo, a.k.a Sunday Igboho can tell you the pain of Makinde’s terror. They (Fayose and Igboho) are nursing their wounds silently now.
“See what he did to the youth during #EndSARS? He treated them nicely. See how nicely he keeps treating the beggars despite the fact that they are adamant and returning to Ibadan from their settlement at Moniya? See how he allows the PMS boys to have their way? All this is because he needs them. Don’t even let us go to the Moniya Market saga. He simply would preserve those who would give him assurances of a second term as well as security for his businesses.”
Makinde appears to be coming up stronger than ever as a force to reckon with in the PDP in Oyo State and beyond as he slugged it out with the fairy fighter, ‘Osoko Mole,’ former Governor Ayodele Fayose. Makinde pinned down the strongman of Ekiti politics to install his own candidate as the Deputy National Chairman of the party (PDP) without having any visible collateral damage.
But, despite the seeming sterling qualities attributed to Makinde and regardless of several odds against the interest of the APC in the state, the party expressed confidence on its prospect in 2023 as it alleged that Makinde had failed the residents of the state woefully in many respects.
AbdulAzeez Olatunde, the state Publicity Secretary of the APC Caretaker Executive Committee, once catalogued Makinde’s failings, saying that the governor merely tried to copy former Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s template as he had no personal blueprint for the state.
Olatunde said that the governor robbed Oyo State the opportunity to have good governance, noting that “Unexpectedly, governance fell on him (Makinde). Imagine the number of campaign promises that somersaulted. He promised to return the butchers to Bodija (market) from Amosun Village.
“When Governor Seyi Makinde was reminded of his promise to export maize to Botswana, recently, his party (PDP) defended him on January 1, at a radio station in Ibadan that Makinde never made such promise, but June 5, 2019 newspaper that reported the story punctured the defence and later, the twitter handle of Governor Seyi Makinde responded and we quote that he said we would sell maize to them. However, we discovered that we have a comparative advantage in cassava, so we focused on that.
“What effort has his (Makinde) government made in that direction? Is Governor Seyi Makinde aware that local demand for cassava has not been met yet from the Flour Mills, Paper Mills, Textile Factories, Pharmaceutical and Chemical Factories, Feed Mills and others?
“Can we ask Governor Seyi Makinde what efforts has his government made to walk his talk?”
Just as the opposition criticizes the governor so also do some PDP members in the state who alleged him of failing to avail them opportunity to enjoy the largesse of governance.
A PDP chief in the state, Demola Omotoso, alleged that Governor Makinde abandoned the political structure that fought for his victory in the 2019 election by sidelining the people. For him, this might work against him in future unless he quickly retraced his steps.
Omotoso, former Chairman, Ibadan North Local Government, said, “It annoys me whenever we demand justice and some people talk about the vault being opened. I was the Returning Officer for my party in my local government in the 2019 gubernatorial election. If you don’t understand what politics is, you don’t get such assignments.
“My local government produced the highest votes for the governor in the election and that shows how much we worked but all of a sudden, we were sidelined. All we are asking for is justice and equity. Many of those who are now with the governor were aliens to the struggle then.
“I know the governor to be a deliberate person. He doesn’t just take decisions without thinking it through. So, I want to believe that he is also deliberate in his decision to sideline some of us but I advise him to change.”
Meanwhile, a chieftain of the APC in the state, Hakeem Alao, said that Makinde has failed the residents of the state by making life difficult for them.
Among other things, he alleged the governor of always inflating the cost of projects in a ploy to siphon the resources of the state while also initiating policies that could ridicule the image of the state.
According to the former governorship candidate of the defunct Alliance for Democracy in the state, awarding the construction of the 76.7 kilometre Iseyin-Fapote-Ogbomoso Road at the sum of N43.1 billion, reeked of profligacy in government spending. Also, he alleged that the killing in Igangan, the Iwo Road killings, havoc by hooligans in Ibadan and the proliferation of cult gangs in parts of the state were signs of weakness on the part of Makinde’s government.
“It is ridiculous that the governor who has always claimed to be meticulous in managing the resources of the state is awarding a road contract whose cost is out of this world. As an engineer, I think Governor Makinde has an explanation to make on why a kilometre of road in Oyo State should cost higher than that of Kwara State where Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, awarded the construction of 34.5Km Kishi-Kaiama road at a cost of N3.7billion,” he said.
Although he lauded Makinde for his administration’s efforts at increasing the state’s Internally Generated Revenue, he, however, faulted him for failing to make a notable mark in the agricultural sector despite the N7.6billion loan facility obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria, allegedly spent on farm settlements.
Alao, lamented that with the administration, the glory of Oyo State was dwindling. On environmental sanitation, he said, “It becomes imperative to echo the essence of cleaning up our society, more so, when Governor Makinde has refused to look at that direction lately by incapacitating the local government authorities and ignoring the stakeholders who have been calling for the removal of the filthy sites that have taken over the city.
“The concerned stakeholders in the state have been calling on Makinde over the last two-three weeks but neither the governor, his aides nor the agency in charge of waste management have practically done anything to reverse the sordid situation.
“The local government authorities which ought to be saddled with the responsibility of waste management have been rendered incapacitated because the governor wants everybody to see him as a superhero. Honestly, it is not only refuse that has taken over the city, also most drainages have been blocked by filths of all kinds. It is the slabs that cover up the dirt in the channels around the city.”
