It seems like Local Government Chairmen in Oyo state, out of the fear of being attacked by a lone wolf have chosen to be eaten by a pack of angry Lions.
There are two major issues excising my mind.
The broadcast by the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the ignorance demonstrated by the 33 Local Government Chairmen in Oyo state regarding the criminal directives urging them to flout the judgment of the Supreme Court by Governor Makinde.
I will take the ignorance of the Oyo Council Chairmen as is clearly evident in the position of the state ALGON chairman, Sikiru Sanda of Egbeda Local Government first.
Sannda had told journalists that the Local Government Chairmen in Oyo state are in consonance with Governor Makinde in his determination to disregard the orders of the Supreme Court.
He reportedly told reporters that he and his ilks are ready to break away from the National Body of ALGON as directed by the Governor and equally decided to follow every directives of the Governor by continuing to operate a joint Account with the state Government.
I have no issues with Sanda and his co travelers.
It is obvious that they have resolved to be like the stupid fly which followed the corpse to the grave.
Though sad, I am equally not surprised at the desperation of Governor Makinde.
His fingers are burning as a result of the unexpected Judgment of the Supreme Court and like the snake whose head was chopped off suddenly, he must react by pulling at everything in sight.
I must admit that Governor Makinde’s actions gladdens my heart however.
At least, he has not only disappointed wailers like Agbeke Adegoke and Gbenga Akanni, he has equally disgraced his spokespersons and even his own political party, the Oyo PDP.
Just yesterday, the Oyo PDP made a release asking people to ignore that the Oyo state Local Government Chairmen will exit ALGON.
They have been put in their place and told to shut up by the admission of Sanda.
When we told them that ” sobolation” doesn’t pay, they were calling us names.
Now, their beloved Governor Makinde has treated them like pieces of rags. What a shame!
I had repeatedly warned of the consequences of standing in contempt of the judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and it looks like both Governor Makinde and his lickspittles of Chairmen are prepared to damn the consequences.
The ball is now in the court of the Civil servants and the Local Government Career Officers.
I and ofcourse, millions of the citizens of Oyo state are watching keenly to see if they will also join in the macabre dance.
Governor Makinde and some of this civil servants have engaged in series of illegal deals with the Local Government monthly Allocations for years.
No one has bothered to ask questions mainly because of the nature of our society.
Unfortunately, the judgment of the Supreme Court has raised awareness of citizens.
It will be most dangerous for the civil servants to fear the wolf in Governor Makinde and fall into the deadlier hands of the angry Lions out there.
It is now clearly evident that the Governor has been plundering and pillaging the Allocations for the 33 Local Governments with the active connivance of idle Local Government Chairmen and some civil servants.
A new chapter is opened through the judgment of the Supreme Court and citizens are now sensitized to monitor the activities of the Local Governments.
I will once again advice the civil servants, the Oyo state Accountant general, the HLAs and Directors of Finance for the 33 Local Governments not to indulge in any act of sabotage and criminality.
When the burble bursts, Governor Makinde will hide under immunity to shield himself from criminal prosecution and might eventually do “Yahaya Bello” when his tenure expires.
Where will the civil servants run to? Do not say I did not warn you.
As for the clueless Local Government Chairmen, is it not amusing and ridiculous to think that exiting ALGON will provide any sort of cover for contempt of court?
We are being treated to some sort of senseless Drama here.
Does exiting ALGON amount to being outside the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court?
If you must be deceived, shouldn’t the reasons for it at least be sensible?
Haa! How did we get here!
That will lead me to the other issue.
President Tinubu’s address this morning contained some statements which I am sure Governor Makinde will surely come out to debunk and show us that the president is a liar.
The president while telling Nigerians the steps he has taken to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians in his early morning broadcast said, and he was emphatic that his Government has increased monthly Allocations for states and Local Governments more than any previous Governments had done.
Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris had a couple of days ago said that Governors have received the sum of N570B as additional support from the Federal Government since December, 2023.
Now that the president has emphasized the fact that he has tremendously increased monthly Allocations for states and Local Governments, I think Governor Makinde has a lot of explanations to make.
I remember that Governor Makinde trivialized the claims that monthly Allocations to states were increased by N2B by president Tinubu.
Governor Makinde, it was, who has taken it upon himself to always tackle the presidency and ” expose” the ” lies” of the Senate president.
It will be interesting to see how he addresses this fresh claim from the presidency.
If monthly Allocations for states and Local Governments have increased tremendously under Tinubu, Governor Makinde owes Oyo state a lot of explanations about what he has been doing with the increased monthly Allocations of the state and the 33 Local Governments.
There is nothing to justify that additional monthly Allocations have been flowing to Oyo state except for the Governor to be mouthing the prompt payments of salaries.
Or, perhaps, the monthly wage bills of Oyo state is now in trillions ?
Despite the reported increase in monthly Allocations, why has the debts profile of the state keep going up?
Why are the Local Governments suffering from infrastructural deficits?
It is now obvious that the hands of the Governor are not clean.
No wonder he has decided to dangerously and illegally cling to the resources of the 33 Local Governments.
Unfortunately, Governor Makinde was advising citizens of Oyo state to protest, albeit, peacefully against the president.
The tactics to divert all the attentions and citizens anger against the president will no longer work in Oyo state.
Governor Makinde must be held to account for the monthly Allocations for the state and the 33 Local Governments before being heard to point an acussing fingers at Abuja except he will come out with facts and figures to show that the president is not been truthful.
Oyo state citizens want to know how much the Governor has collected as monthly Allocations in respect of the state and the 33 Local Governments since Tinubu became president.
We want to know how they are spent and by who?
We want the Governor to come out by himself and tell us if it is true that the monthly Allocations of the 33 Local Governments has been tied to a Loan contract, who authorized such illegality, who collected the Loan, for what purpose and what is the figure of the Loan?
This are very crucial issues which the Governor must address.
Governor Makinde is a very vocal individual.
His silence on this matter is suspicious.
We didn’t vote for an ” olundu” now. Did we?
SOLA ABEGUNDE.
