On Saturday, 27th April, 2024, Oyo state Governor, Seyi Makinde conducted election in the 33 Local Governments of the state.
The circumstances before, during and after the election eventually laid to rest whatever doubts any right thinking human being had about the turn of events that produced a shock defeat of the APC in the gubernatorial election of 2023.
Many of us have said it repeatedly that Seyi Makinde did not defeat the APC in 2023.
How could the PDP come from a crushing defeat, where it lost in the presidential ballot, the Senatorial ballot a conceded 9 out of 14 House of Representatives seats to APC to inflict a “crushing” defeat on the same APC in just an interval of 21 days?
There is no reasonable logic to support the defeat of the APC in the gubernatorial election.
The only reasonable factor that was evident is the fact that Makinde received help from somewhere far above both himself and the Oyo APC.
I have disagreed many times with those who ascribed Oyo APC’s victory during the presidential and National Assembly election to some assumed “Tsunami occassioned by the involvement of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu”.
With due respect to the president, I disagree with such insinuations which lacks any solid particulars.
What happened to the ” Tsunami” in both of Lagos and Osun states, the president’s aboriginal and adopted states of origin?
How will the ” Tsunami” lose potency in the president’s bases and found the potency in Oyo?
That doesn’t sound logical.
Whatever was the assumed or real causes of the the loss of the gubernatorial election by the APC is not the subject of this piece.
Such have been overflogged in the past.
However, what I found interesting is the fact that Governor Seyi Makinde himself have laid the controversies that trailed his purported second term election to rest through OYSIEC.
According to the results released by INEC for the Oyo state Gubernatorial and House of Assembly, Governor Makinde recorded overwhelming votes in about 98 percentage of the 33 Local Governments.
His party, the PDP also won 28 of the 32 seats in the House of Assembly.
In scores, he doubled the scores of the APC candidate.
That is massive, but Who would have expected that someone who was credited with such frightening scores will be having to resort to riggings in the same Local Governments where he trashed the APC less than a year ago?
The Governor is comfortably in his second term.
According to the results released by INEC, he is such a very popular individual, extremely loved by the people.
He’s been called by many names and given many appellation by his accolytes and the press.
” The poster boy of the G-5, the Governor with unprecedented street credibility…”.
Such were the beautiful names and appellation ascribed to Governor Makinde.
Alas! Why would the ” poster” boy, the ” king of the streets” be comprehensively rejected by the same people who purportedly gave him massive votes less than a year ago to the extent that he would require a compromised Senior Advocate to write fake results against the APC during the Local Government Election?
The April 27 Local Government Election in Oyo state was a Referendum on Governor Seyi Makinde and the incredible scores recorded for him by those who gave him a second term in office.
Unfortunately for the Governor, that referendum didn’t support what was accredited to him at the gubernatorial election.
Note that the Local Government Election was conducted by the OYSIEC whose membership were handpicked by Governor Makinde himself.
Is it not interesting that the OYSIEC of Governor Seyi Makinde will still have to rely on rigging and procurement of fake results for the PDP to win in the 33 Local Governments?
The APC in Oyo state should be in celebration mood.
The party just pushed Governor Makinde to commit an unforced error.
The ” poster boy” have been dimistified.
The masquerade have been derobed.
All thanks to Governor Makinde and Aare Isiaka Olaguju.
They played their parts well.
They thought they won.
Unfortunately, they lost big time and the APC, not the PDP won in all the 33 Local Governments.
Thanks to OYSIEC and Olagunju, the whole world now know that the Governor of Oyo state is one coward who requires crook to win even, a Local Government Election!
The wind have blown and the whole world have seen how the children poo.
The only disaster in the episode of the just concluded Local Government Election is the waste of public funds by the Governor and the Olagunju led OYSIEC.
The good thing about that, however, is the fact that the Constitution have spelt out how such wastages could be punished.
Some of us will definitely explore such provisions of the Constitution to deal with erring individuals to serve as deterrent.
The biggest victory recorded by the Oyo APC in this Referendum is the mood of the state.
Makinde, OYSIEC and the PDP claimed victory in the election, question is, where are the drums?
Who is celebrating the purported victory?
Even the PDP candidates who were awarded the victory by Olagunju have gone into hidings.
God bless the good people of Oyo state.
SOLA ABEGUNDE
