Makinde’s Penchant For Sad Theatrics
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state is one strange individual.
Apart from his love for double speak, his penchant for making costly jokes from extremely terrible situations is legendary.
On Saturday , 13th April, 2024, he was in Ogbomosho to attend the burial ceremony of the late mother of the former Minister for Youths and Sports, Sunday Dare.
Governor Makinde made sure the occassion did not go without him making some funny remarks, some, hilarious and some, unfortunate.
It is funny and petty that the Governor, while trying to make a point about the need to play politics without bitterness would say that Chief Sunday Dare ” must have been surprised that he, the Governor attended the burial ceremony of his late Mum” because they belong to different political parties.
That statement is not only petty, it is also laughable.
Though, they belonged to different political parties but the last general election was such that saw people of different political parties on the same bed during the gubernatorial election in Oyo state.
It is not that the Governor attended the ceremony without prior invitation.
It is not also that the Governor goes about attending ceremonies of every Dick, Tom and Harry in the opposition.
I don’t know why the Governor is making heavy weather of his attendance of a ceremony by someone who had benefitted him in the past, most especially, on invitation.
The one statement that caught me off guard was when the Governor announced with gusto that he had approved a sum of 2 billion Naira to offset a judgement debt he incurred through his illegal and unfortunate sack of local Government Chairmen in 2019.
It is unfortunate that Governor Makinde see his rather reprehensible action as one that must be celebrated.
The release of the 2 billion Naira is the second phase of such releases in respect of the judgment debt.
It is unfortunate that Governor Makinde saw such reckless expenditures as one that should elicit applause.
The billions he has released to this sacked Chairmen are scarce resources that ought to have been spent to develop Education and our comatose health facilities if the Governor had maintained restraint in 2019.
Governor Makinde considered the avoidable wastage of Oyo state funds on a matter that had to do with his personal ego and bad judgment as one which he deserves praises.
In other climes, the Governor ought to have been impeached for his flagrant disobedience of the Constitution and our Courts.
What he failed to tell his audience was how much exactly have gone down the drain on this voyage of recklessness.
Though, Nigeria is a place where the citizens do not ask questions, yet, I think the Governor should have been reasonable enough to obey the judgment of the Courts quietly and remorsefully.
The reality of the matter is that because the Governor took an avoidable wrong step, Oyo state have lost about a month’s Allocation or more when you consider how much of public funds he must have wasted paying Lawyers and accumulated fines from the Courts.
Why the Governor chose the venue and occassion to display such horrible theatrics still baffles me.
It’s like Governor Makinde enjoys making this funny but unpalatable statements each time he is in Ogbomosho.
His latest theatrics reminds me of how he “ordered” those who filed actions in court to challenge the Soun of Ogbomosho to withdraw them within a time frame or he would ” employ all instruments of state to deal with them”.
The last time I checked, those who challenged the nomination of the Oba in court have not withdrawn the actions.
One only wonders what has happened to Governor Makinde’s ” instruments of state”.
So hilarious.
Sometimes, I used to wonder if Governor Makinde do forget that the office of the Governor comes with certain responsibilities and one of such responsibilities is the ability to weigh words and be circumspect in delivering them.
For the people of Oyo state, there is nothing to celebrate in the action of the Governor who spent scarce resources on a wasteful process.
It is rather funny that Governor Makinde described his action of sacking the Governor by using a collective pronoun, “we”.
His exact words were “.. when I took over as Governor in 2019, I decided to sack all the Local Government Chairmen because WE felt that their election was unconstitutional”.
Note that the Governor used the word “..I decided to sack…” and the use of “..we felt that their election was unconstitutional”.
The Governor was saying the truth when he said he decided to sack all the Local Government Chairmen.
The decision to sack the Local Government Chairmen was purely that of the Governor and it was illegal, null and void.
The Chairmen were sacked the same day Governor Makinde assumed office when his Excos were yet to be constituted.
That is an action where the Governor required a legal advice from the state Attorney general, who in that circumstance had not been appointed.
So, who are the “we” the Governor was referring to in the statement?
Governor Seyi Makinde must accept responsibilities for the unfortunate action and its attendant consequences.
Rather than expecting to be praised for paying the judgment debts he unnecessarily incurred, the Governor should rather apologize to the people of Oyo state whose resources he has wasted on needless conflicts.
SOLA ABEGUNDE.
