May 02, 2020 I wrote on the perceived imbroglio between the Executive Governor of Oyo State, Oluseyi Makinde and his deputy, His Excellency, Engr Rauf Olaniyan and political implications of same to the people of Okeogun and Oyo State in general.
With the happenings in Oyo state political terrain after my piece confirms that absolutely everything is wrong in their relationships. The purported truce spearheaded by renowned politician, Chief Yekini Adeojo and many attempts by others to settle the rift has been futile exercise.
Actually, there’s nothing unusual in a frost relationship between a governor and his deputy, just like any other relationships, we agreed to disagree and agree again. This is known in political parlance as “no permanent friend or enemy in politics”.
In every political fightings like this, the one with maturity, wisdom and tactics always come out victorious. In politics, the opponent calculates or measures the weaknesses of the other party and act on it. By my assessment of the present happenings in Oyo state, the governor is tactless and in no distance period, his deputy will come out victorious if the governor refuses to settle the rift and negotiate with his deputy.
The success of a leader is not measured by his own qualifications only but the calibre of people around him. The question now is who are the people around Governor Seyi Makinde? Where do former Gov. Rasidi Ladoja, Bar. Lanlehin, Bar. Safara Ali, High Chief/Oba Lekan Balogun, even the PDP State Chairman, Alhaji Kunmi Mustapha, and other core PDP leaders in the state stands? Do these people have access to the governor? Is he seeking their elderly advice? This is the first area of failure on the part of the governor.
Secondly, taking the battle to Okeogun, the deputy governor’s constituency. Has the governor fair well in dispensation of justice, fairness and developments in the zone? Since he was voted into power, how many times has he visited Okeogun area? How many PDP leaders in the zone has he reached out to? How many abandoned or new projects has he commissioned in the zone? Please spare me of the commissioning of Mobile Police Squadron in Ago Are, everybody knows anything police is federal. The much hyped Moniya/Iseyin road reconstruction is been done at a snailspeed, the Saki township dualization is causing more harms than good for the people because the project is practically abandoned. I had expected that those kind of on ongoing projects like Saki township dualization would be speedily completed and commissioned to mark one year in office, but the reverse is the case. Only political rhetorics and noises from the governor and his supporters without results.
However, bringing individuals on board in government in terms of appointments is only to the political benefits of the appointees and appointor and most of the time, the community suffers. Okeogun in particular has been most hit by this catastrophe called political appointments. The appointees are mostly selected to do the biddings of the governor and as a result becomes attack dogs against their own brothers and sisters. With recent distribution of exotic cars to these appointees, we can expect nothing less than aggressive defense of the governor.
More importantly, the governor’s inability to take interest of Okeogun above political interest will spell doom for his reelection. We do not need to beg for his attention or developments in Okeogun region. If he likes, he can change his tactics and bring developments to the area and if he like, he can choose the path of his predecessors and continuing heightening political tension in the region without developments.
I have said it severally that enough is enough! Okeogun will not lament abandonment again. Whether they like it or not, one day, an Okeogun indigene will become the executive governor of the state to correct all the Ill treatments and sufferings of our people.
Back to the topic, the more the governor choose to vilify the deputy, the more the deputy will get sympathy and support of the people. The problem between the two was that the governor learnt his deputy is eyeing his position and as a result, he, the deputy governor is no more loyal to him. The punishment for this is to get him impeached or sideline him in the running of the state. The governor weigh the two options and chosen the later. The first punishment is to send the Chief of Staff instead of the Deputy Governor to Saki for presentation of Staff of Office to the new Okere of Saki last Thursday. On the part of the governor, the step is a great mistake given the importance of Saki as political head of Okeogun region. The governor, as a tactic, could have been present at the coronation of the Okere of Saki His Royal Majesty, Oba Khalid Oyeniyi Olabisi Oyedepo lll. This could have afforded him the opportunity of meeting all the Okeogun Obas who were almost 100% present at the occasion and also the opportunity to directly talk to the masses and appease them on his earlier absence at the Town Hall meeting he organized across the state sometimes last year and also thank the people for his election. Explanations could have also be made on the line down projects for the region including the much cherished relocation of “OYSADEP” headquarters to Saki. He lost all these opportunities to bitter politics!
I said it a day before the coronation/presentation of staff of office to the revered Oba, that the governor will not come and he’s not going to send his deputy. Those around me said I was saying rubbish but what I said come to past. If the governor has been more matured politically, he could have sent his deputy to represent him at the presentation of the staff of office to the Okere of Saki. A message delivered on his behalf by his deputy to his people would have save the governor of this embarrassment.
The governor, Engr Oluseyi Makinde is a personality i respect so much for bringing down the over bloated ego of his immediate past, his soft spoken and gentlemanly approach to issues. He has the ability to use right words at the right times. This is the only magic the uninformed masses see that makes them fall for him. Behind this gentleman look and words, the governor is a strong willed, non repentant personality that goes against his perceived enemy even if the enemy was wrongly sold to him as enemy. It’s a flaw rather than strength on his part and this may spell doom for his second term in office if any.
A leader as in Governor Seyi Makinde supposed to be a listening person, he should be able to learn restrain, speed resolution of issues and stretching hands of developments across the state. Concentration of development in his own senatorial zone only doesn’t speak well of him. The farm projects in Ibarapa and Akufo (Ibadan), the multi billion naira motorparks projects in Ojoo and Iwo Road in Ibadan are all concentrated in Oyo South Senatorial Zone in the state. Why this unfairness? Road projects are only seen on papers! Anyway, the masses are still looking up to seeing or receiving more dividends of democracy in all sectors from our governor. Fighting deputy doesn’t bring developments. He was a gubernatorial candidate of a party before you approached him to join you for a more formidable joint ticket in PDP. You can not now claim ignorance of his ambition. Listening to the sycophants and taking action on what they told you without asking the other party is a cowardice step. A good leader should be able to confront whoever they said has hidden agenda against him to hear his or her own side before taking any action. People give this to former Governor Ajimobi. He would have called his deputy and even make fake promise to handover to him instead of fighting his deputy.
Conclusively, this administration is still young and there’s still ample time for correction and move the state on the path of righteousness.
Esv. Ismail Adewoyin is the Convener of Okeogun Project Forum
