It seems the Governor of Oyo state could not manage the shock of the recent Judgment of the Supreme court of Nigeria which liberated the 33 Local Governments from his grips and the fact that some of us have dared to ventilate on his petty reactions to the said Judgment.
His shadow soldier ants, characters like Gbenga Akanni have gone on the offensive blabbering and threatening fire and brimstones.
Unfortunately, they are not even capable of doing a good job.
They have been recycling one story under different headlines for the past 72 hours.
Lazy lots. I have recommended some yoghurts and cold water for the Governor to calm the nerves and if that would not do, the likes of Akanni and other soldier ants should endeavor to get him some shock absorbers because we will continue to ensure that the public gets to see things as they truly are.
The scarce resources of Oyo state have been frittered on a lot of cosmetic and unproductive projects under Governor Makinde over the past five years.
The Governor had a field day as a result of a mostly compromised and timid Media.
As a result of unholy and unprofessional alliances between the Governor and some Media practitioners, a conspiracy of silence was forged and it has been working perfectly well until the Governor overstepped his bounds.
An unchecked person is a danger, even to himself.
The recent activities of the Governor are bound to attract public rage and outcry and like the Yorubas would say, ” ti a ba fa gburu, gburu a fa igbo”.
It is the Governor, not his critics who have been recruiting warriors for his enemies. Yorubas call it ” o nsegun si eyin ota e”.
As much as this soldier ants will want us to see Governor Makinde as one public figure in the mould of Awolowo, who was idolized by the people, we will keep disappointing them by letting the public know that the two are world apart.
Awolowo would never take a loan of almost 20 billion Naira and commit such on the building of garages which would eventually be handed over to a personality like Mukaila Auxiliary, who, Governor Makinde himself have clamped in prison custody.
Awolowo would have seen and admitted that the management of Parks and garages are the constitutional responsibilities of Local Governments and wouldn’t have dabbled into such.
Such a humongous amounts of money would have been invested in the Education sector by the late sage and the WAEC results of Oyo state pupils wouldn’t have been what it was for the past three years.
Now, who is asking the Governor questions about how the said loan is been paid back?
Are the garages making enough money capable of paying back the loan or what?
This and some others are questions a serious minded Journalist should be asking instead of foraying into issues he has no concerns about.
Governor Makinde is blessed with a lot of competent Media Aides. They should be the ones giving us facts and figures.
Then, it will be reasonable to engage them with superior facts at our disposal.
I think the Akannis should know this and save their saliva. We are already wet with them assuming they exist and if they are operating under cover, ” Eleda yin ngbo o”.
Assuming the 28 billion Naira invested in the Light Up Oyo state project were invested in live stock farming and food production. The results would have been felt positively by the generality of Oyo state masses.
Jobs would have been created. Prices of commodities like foodstuffs would have also positively been affected.
Awolowo would have first considered how such investments would impact on a greater number of the citizens.
He wouldn’t have spent 28 billion Naira just because he felt a project would beautify the streets and curb robbery on the Roads.
Let us ask ourselves, how many people did that Light Up Oyo state project provide jobs for?
Has it really stopped robbery?
Mostly, people robb because they are hungry and deprived. Not because there lights on or not.
How many Bank robberies happen at nights?
What is the status of the street lights as we speak? What happened to the conversion from diesel to gas as promised by the Governor?
How much have we spent buying diesel till date? What is the name of the company supplying diesel for the project? Is it true that the money for the project belongs to the Local Governments?
These are genuine and reasonable questions that should excise the mind of a sensible human being.
Governor Seyi Makinde has been talking lately about how the masses have been suffering due to hunger.
Where are our maize and cassava farms? Where are our Silos where grains are stored for the purposes of periods like this?
If as Governor for five years plus, you have none of this, where did you get the conscience to pass the bulk?
Yet, you spent over 7 billion Naira of borrowed money on what? Agribusiness? How has it fed us? With what? With Grammar?
There is no single mudu of maize. No single tuber of yam and you want to do a Documentary that will compare you with Awolowo?!
In your shoes, Governor Makinde, Awolowo would have opened the silos and I bet, no single citizen of Oyo state would have been without food.
We are talking about production of food. You are an Apostle of ” we should be able to produce what we eat”.
Now sir, what have you produced for us to eat in five years?
Even those who are managing to produce at their own capacities in Eruwa, are they not currently panicking that you are going to take away the Land upon which they have been producing from them?
In this life, the said and done of every human being determines who they are.
The said and done of the Governor about Agriculture are clearly at variance and some morons want us to be silent?
We won’t.
How could anyone, much more a Governor consider the sales of arable lands in this particular moment that we have found ourselves as a Nation?
Has Governor Makinde ever considered the fates of those who have been cultivating that Land for decades and where they will go if he eventually sell the Eruwa Farm Settlement?
Why is it that it is only Governor Makinde who thinks the best way to deal with the Farm Settlement is to sell it without considering other factors?
The Eruwa water works is located on the Land in question and is also marked for sale.
That means Ibarapa Land should forever forget having potable water.
Awolowo established. Makinde wants to sell. What an intriguing History that will make?
The rot in the Education sector is unimaginable.
Oyo state keeps dropping year after year in the Education index.
All we celebrate is the employment of Teachers. Good as it is, under what environment are they working? What is the quality of the Education we are churning out in our Public schools?
Like Chief Awolowo rightly said, there are always issues for right thinking people to discuss in governance.
The role of the Media in a society is not to stand by and clap for those in Government even when they are patently in the wrong.
The role of the Media is to constantly put Government in Its toes at all times. To act as checks and balances to Government activities.
That is what some of us have been jealousy committed to and we will not be distracted by soldier ants.
SOLA ABEGUNDE
