Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state had a live interactive session on both Television and Radio stations of the Broadcasting corporation of Oyo state and quite a number of other Radio stations in Oyo state were on to the program live.
As usual, the Governor did not fail to amuse and annoy.
He seized the opportunity of the session to sing his own praises and latch out at critics of his Government’s policies.
To those who know the Governor very well, his manner of dishing out caustic insults to those he sees as adversaries is legendary except that he took it too far today.
The Governor lined his comments with a lot of vague remarks that makes you think whether he always forget the enormity of the seat he presently occupies.
For example, when trying to justify the reason he is selling part of the Agodi Gardens to developers, he made a terrible statement that disparaged christians who goes to the Prayer Mountains to pray.
According to him, selling off some parts of the Gardens will take care of those christians who felt their prayers could not be answered until they get to the prayer mountains.
He went further to say that most of those who claimed to be praying on the mountains around the Gardens are pretending ritualists claiming to be praying.
Those words, the profiling by the Governor is not only wrong. It is an indictment on the Governor.
The implications of the statement is that the Governor knows some ritualists have been converging on the said space in the name of holding prayer sessions and yet, he let them be until he needed the place for another purpose.
It also implies that he is mocking christians who goes to prayer mountains to pray.
Unfortunately, most of the Christian Leaders in Oyo state who also have designated prayer mountains actually supported the second term ambition of Governor Makinde.
In fact, most of them went to different prayer mountains to offer prayers or as Governor Makinde would call it, rituals for his success in the election.
Governor Makinde is indeed a perfect example of what the Yorubas call ” o so oro so boto or better still, ko gbo ede, o gbo eke”.
I think those christian Leaders who were deceived into supporting the Governor for a second term just because he is a Christian should now know how the Governor perceives them.
Like I said. Governor Makinde made a lot of interesting statements and it depends on which you choose to ventilate.
However, for me, the points that stood out is the combined insults and threats he visited on the courts and litigants in the cases involving himself, his Government on the one hand and the sacked local Government officials and some aggrieved princes of Ogbomosho and Oyo town on the other hand.
Naturally, I have learned to take Governor Makinde as a clown when he issued such empty threats but this one is different.
I thought Governor Makinde would see the opportunity of the interview to show remorse and apologize to the people of Oyo state for his reckless decisions on the matter involving him and the sacked Chairmen.
His stiff neckedness on the matter have led to the waste of billions of Naira of Oyo state resources on Legal fees and accumulated fines.
This morning, I saw a Governor whose personal ego was bruised and is prepared to waste more of the state’s resources to caress his ego.
Nothing can be more unfortunate than the Governor declaring that he would not pay the judgment debts until after the litigants exhaust the legal process in the Supreme court.
What this implies is that he knows he would lose in the supreme court but is willing to waste more resources of the state just to elongate the period he will be withholding the judgment debts!
The question is, who bears the costs? Definitely, not Seyi Makinde.
I laughed when I heard him say he would determine who and who not to pay.
I don’t react to such children talks. The Governor knows it is out of his control to determine who and who not to pay. He was actually and deliberately making such empty statements to rub his ego and to the amusement of those who know what the Law says.
Governor Makinde, with due respect to him is indeed a pathological liar.
When he said the late Governor Alao Akala sacked the Chairmen elected during the tenure of his predecessor, former Governor Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, that is a lie from the pit of hell.
The courts, not late Governor Alao Akala sacked the Chairmen and that is why the Chairmen had no claim against Government at the time.
Akala did not impatiently sack the Chairmen as Makinde did. He waited for the court to determine the proprietary or otherwise of the action before acting and that is why his decision was not reversed by the Appellate courts.
The two scenarios are clearly different.
I have written a piece on how Governor Makinde shot himself in the leg regarding his ill advised sacking of the Chairmen.
His resort to empty threats against the Chairmen will not avail him.
It is a terrible indictment on him that according to him, he was aware of some shoddy activities by the Chairmen and chose to look away only for him to come up with it when he has his back to the wall.
With due respect, that childish of the Governor to say the least.
It is Oyo state funds we are talking about here. If the Governor wants to indulge in ” ere bojuboju”, he should turn to his private investments after all, he claims to have some 48 billion Naira in his personal coffers.
As for his follow up threats to litigants in Obaship tussles and the the threats that people have him to contend with for the next three years, I just laughed.
It seems that Governor Makinde thinks three years is an eternity.
The man just like to amuse.
How could you allege that some Kingmakers in Oyo town took bribes.
In the first instance, what exactly is your interest in Oyo beyond approving whatever name is forwarded to you by the Kingmakers?
The last time I checked, you are not a member of the Oyomesi and your role as Governor is spelt out in the Chiefs Laws of Oyo state.
That Law doesn’t give you supervisory roles over the Oyomesi.
If you’re sure of your positions, why don’t you allow the courts to ventilate and determine if you are right or wrong?
I always wonder why he always make allusions to Eruwa when trying to defend himself.
Obviously both the Governor and the Speaker he’s using as a witness lack the correct information about the situation around the Eleruwa.
It is the other way round. It is those who held the position that the Governor is currently holding to that got what they deserve in the court.
My candid advice to those Obas who have cases on their necks is to neglect the Governor’s mundane positions and seek for genuine peace and recommendations.
When this things boomerangs, it will not be Seyi Makinde that will suffer the consequences.
As far as the Law of the land is concerned, Makinde lacks the authority to order anyone to withdraw genuine court cases and I don’t see any power he possesses to deal with anyone.
SOLA ABEGUNDE.
