For obvious reasons, there is peace and calm in Oyo State. Apart from the phenomenal strides in all sectors, from education to agriculture and from health to infrastructure, the Seyi Makinde government has created a clement climate for life and investment. Hounding of the opposition and antagonism of the press are unknown in Oyo State, and neither is a climate of violence and fear. That’s not fortuitous: the fact is well known that Makinde relies on the tools of data, logic and science to govern Oyo State. It is not hard, if you use the social media, to see that the governor is widely loved and respected, indeed venerated, across the length and breadth of Nigeria: with project after project rolled out almost on a daily basis, it would be strange if this was not the case. In an abundantly blessed but horribly governed clime like Nigeria, it is not hard to see netizens taking state governors apart, but Makinde continues to draw applause because his strides speak for themselves.
Go to X. Go to Facebook. Go to Nairaland. But more importantly, go to the markets and streets of Oyo State, and hear heartfelt testimonies about a governor who daily cares for his people.
In his first term of office, Makinde easily dwarfed the performances of his predecessors, and it is an alien from Mars who has not yet rated him as Oyo State’s best governor since the return to civil rule in 1999. The lines have fallen in pleasant places for the man Nigerian students gave a crown they first bestowed on the fiery lawyer and human rights activist, the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN). When ecstatic Nigerian students named Makinde Governor of the Masses, the nation took notice. And his second term, so far a harvest of projects, has been even better. The foregoing does not of course mean that Makinde and his administration are superhuman.
Far from it. But while the governor is loved by his people who know, for instance, that he will pay workers the new minimum wage, the gang of clowns masquerading as opposition and completely ignored by the people who gave their governor a second term in grand style (31LGs won out of 33) are at their game again, spinning lies and seeking to create chaos in the state. In this regard, the acerbic, low-IQ piece by one Sola Abegunde, probably a fake entity operating like a forged certificate, needs some response, if only with respect to those unfamiliar with Oyo State and its politics.
In the social media piece titled “A massive wind,” “Abegunde”, apparently a pseudonym for a fraudster who because of his libelous, jail-prone claims does not have the courage to use his real name, strings together a series of lunatic claims in a desperate bid to robe the Oyo governor in the garb of a villain.
A note here: Abegunde’s lines are extremely chaotic, with hardly any sentence cohering with the next, and so it’s virtually impossible to follow his train of thought, which is an absolute train wreck. Lacking neither language power nor logic, the hack and hired writer audaciously castigates the good people of Oyo State for electing and re-electing Governor Makinde, and for standing by his administration. The governor, writes the ruffian, “is trending seriously these days and for so many wrong reasons.”
Naturally, the nitwit does not tell us where, precisely, Governor Makinde is “trending seriously”, and the statistics that back up his claim. That’s because he isn’t dealing in facts but pure fiction, being an errand boy of moral and intellectual midgets. Now, hear the “critic”: “The governor deceitfully ensured that he paid the salaries and allowances of civil servants promptly, even if it meant using the monthly allocations of the local governments as collateral for loans.” Let us ignore the libel and focus on “Abegunde’s” logic (or illogic), which is that paying workers their dues is an act of deceit! This is patently insane, but the demagoguery shows that the rabble rouser and his paymasters thrive through chaos, and cannot bear the fact that Oyo State has a responsible governor who fulfils his obligation to workers. After all, he believes the governor’s second term win was a “reward” by Aso Rock, forgetting that Bola Tinubu was only president-elect when Makinde was re-elected, and couldn’t have rigged election for him (Makinde) as he alleges.
To “Abegunde” and his ilk, Oyo State workers deserve to suffer, and honesty means owing them salaries and putting their families in peril! Hell is teeming with characters such as these. They are shameless and extremely proud about it. Terrible. Now, Mr “Abegunde”—we may never know his real name—asks this question, apparently limited by his impoverished mind: “Who would have thought that a Governor, seeking a second term in office (sic) would be bold to publicly declare that he did not believe in the Independence of the Local Governments (sic) during a gubernatorial debate without regretting such statements?” Here, he is again blaming Oyo State people for re-electing Makinde, but he cannot avoid advertising his ignorance. Apart from quoting Governor Makinde out of context, he fails to see that in federations, LGs aren’t independent entities but outfits created under regions/states and that in a profound sense, “LG autonomy” is actually a meaningless term.
During the First Republic when Nigeria had arguably its best years to date, LGs were acknowledged, as they should, but not listed in the constitution.
They were LGs in a real sense, deriving their revenues from within their jurisdictions and dispensing them accordingly. Not being federating units, LGs should never have been listed in the 1999 Constitution. Of course, Governor Makinde supports LGs controlling their funds, but he was talking of LGs within federations and how they ought to operate. In case Mr “Abegunde” thinks the Supreme Court has settled all the key questions about LGs in Nigeria, the next few months will show him what political cataract precludes him from seeing at the moment. In a completely absurd move, the Nigerian legislature is trying to create a federal umpire to organize LG elections, and that absurdity apparently has “Abegunde’s” warm approval.
The obscure writer blames Governor Makinde for “a controversial gazette” about which “the general consensus is that the gazetted Law is targeted at the Otun Olubadan of Ibadan Land, High Chief Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja.” Naturally, we will never know the census “Abegunde” organized to come to this “general consensus” but he at least mentions that “the Governor has denied this insinuations (sic)”, which he dubs “lame to say the least.” How anyone would think that Governor Makinde has measured the lifespan of the current Olubadan and determined his successor is honestly beyond me. However, since the clown wishes to convict Governor Makinde by all means, he had to find “evidence” in the realm of hearsay. It is the way of all sophists.
The fellow actually accuses Governor Makinde of causing the high cost of foodstuff! At this rate, he is soon going to accuse the governor of being behind the shooting of Donald Trump. His list of allegations is endless, but it does seem that his real grouse is Governor Makinde’s electoral victories. Those victories really battered his existence, hence this tautology: “Governor Makinde has employed mischief to win election twice as Governor (sic). He has run his first term on mischief (sic). There is no way he could have succeed (sic) running his second term successfully on mischief (sic).”
Remember that in the dark, demonic world that “Abegunde” and his sponsors inhabit, it is “deceit” to pay workers their salaries.
It is an utter shame, isn’t it, that anyone would disgrace himself in this manner just for a mess of pottage? We are truly living in perilous times.
Akanni lives in Ibadan.