A group concerned about the development of Oyo state, Oyo Advocacy Development Group has alleged that the Oyo state governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde is running a deceitful coalition government in the state.
The group in a release on Sunday signed by its Chairman, Mr Oyewunmi Joseph and secretary, Alhaji Gbadegesin Maruf said that Makinde has not been following the agreement of the coalition government that brought him in as the governor of Oyo state.
It will be recalled that the African Democratic Congress, (ADC), the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) signed a coalition agreement with the People Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2019 general election which produced Makinde. The agreement signed according to the group is that the ADC will take 30%, ZLP 10% and SDP 5% of all positions across board.
The release read in part “Just less than six months of the government of Engr. Seyi Makinde, there has been widespread criticism and uproar most especially the way the Governor is said to have used and dumped the members of the coalition blocs that heralded its birth. Before the general election, hardly did any pundit gave Engr Seyi Makinde the slightest possibility of him winning the gubernatorial elections owing to the unpopularity of the PDP prior to the elections proper but the coming together of ADC, ZLP and SDP turned the tilte in favour of Engr Makinde’s PDP.
“There was a gentleman agreement drew up by the Director General of the coalition parties to share all posts across board should Engr Makinde wins which saw the ADC with 30% of the bounties, ZLP 10% and SDP 5% but since the elections were held and Engr Makinde won, there has been disquiet that the Governor has neglected the sharing formula to the extent that all appointments made so far are going to the PDP and the Governor ‘s singlehandedly picked appointees.
“For the benefit of doubt, the list and the respective party affiliations of each appointees are:
The group while speaking on the summation of the appointments so far by the Makinde-led government said the governor has not been fair with the coalition agreement. It said that the Advisory Council where most leaders of the coalition parties are is nothing but a mere group which does not have any say in the decision of the state.
“From the breakdown highlighted above, the summation of the Governor’s deceitful government of coalition is that so far ADC has just 4 appointments instead of 30 which is the 30% of the 100 appointees appointed so far. ZLP has just 1 instead of 10, SDP has 1 instead of 5, while the Governor’s PDP has a total of 94 appointees of 100 so far
“We observed that most of the coalition leaders were constituted into an Advisory council which is a mere council that cannot influence any decision in the state. Most members of the council have gotten another appointments. This shows how useless the Advisory council is.” the release added.
While noting that Makinde is the first governor to be produced in a coalition agreement, the group urged the governor to in the best interest of the state fulfill the coalition agreement to further build trust among the parties in the state.
“The parody of the PDP and the Governor’s actions are that of self deceit and delusion. Prior to now, the body language of a large number of the coalition parties members was that of readiness and openness to joining the PDP but since it is now seen that both the PDP and the Governor have decided to make all appointments their personal preserves, a lot of the members of the coalition parties have decided to weigh their options going forward.
“It would be recalled that Engr Makinde’s election was the first time oppositions formed an alliance to defeat a ruling party in the state but the attitudes of the Governor at jettisoning a gentleman agreement will go very far in future elections.” the statement concluded.
