“But let me also put a rider, I would go after them…I will go after them”
(Gov. Seyi Makinde)
“…All the things ti mo fi so wipe, look… ehnn…e je ka fi sile, let not be distracted, ehn…ehn… let just be focusing on, ehn… the work Oyo State give to us, since they decided to constitute a distraction to us, emi na a ba won wa nti o ma distract won, ehn…ehn…so that ehnn won o ni raye lati ma distract wa…”
(Gov Seyi Makinde)
The above were the extracts from the Media Chat granted by His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde on Saturday 23 December, 2023.
The governor on that occasion inadvertently unmasked himself before the public. He couldn’t hide his frustration as he openly vented his anger in the media chat for those who cared to listen. He promised to go after the sacked Local Government Chairpersons by making trumped-up charges against them. He is set to call a dog a bad name in order to crucify it.
That was the message he had for the good people of Oyo State to show that he’s in firm control. He is poised to deal with the people fighting for their rights. His hidden agenda is now exposed and already in the public domain. That he has chosen to employ fabricated lies against the sacked chairmen so that they can be silenced is now obvious.
From the media chat, one could discern threats, arrogance, vindictiveness, frustration, victimization, panic measure and a clear intention to engage in executive rascality.
“Afefe ti fe, a ti ri furo adire”
But all of these mischiefs will amount to nothing because truth is constant. The governor must disembark from his high horse and do what is right. Nobody is challenging or contesting the enormous power inherent in the office of the executive governor. But in any democratic setting, the rule of law is sacrosanct. And any attempt to suppress it is an invitation to anarchy.
People of good conscience should endeavor to prevail on our governor to tell the world when it actually became an offence to seek redress in court. How long will it take a person that ought to know better to show some understanding of his knowledge of the fundamentals of the rule of law? Does democracy confer impunity and arbitrariness on governors? All these and many more questions are begging for answer.
“But were ko ni yo ro ejo, were ko ni yo da.”
The judiciary is the last hope of the common man, so they speak. At one time or the other, all the courts in the land had spoken with one voice. The High Court, the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court have all passed their verdicts in favor of the sacked Local Government Chairpersons making Gov Seyi Makinde to become needlessly stupefied, dazed and aggressive.
It is interesting to note that his counterpart in Katsina State who received a similar judgement on the same day had fully complied long time ago. But here we are in Oyo State, Governor Seyi Makinde has continued to hide behind a finger to perpetrate injustice. This is ungubernatorial!
Mr Governor should be reminded how he persuaded the chairmen after the Supreme Court judgement in 2021 that he should be allowed to pay the N4.8 Billion debt installmentally in the interest of the State. On two occasions in 2022, he ordered the payments of a total of N1.5 Billion which I’m sure he cannot deny.
He subsequently wrote an undertaking through his then Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Professor Oyewo (SAN) that he would pay the remaining balance of N3.3 Billion within a period of six months. The documents are there staring His Excellency at the face.
How time flies! Mr governor has forgotten so soon the commitment he made about a year ago. I’m sure that this can’t be anything close to senility. Yes it can’t be. After all, His Excellency has just turned 56. Not too old to rule, you would say! But he is now feigning ignorance that he doesn’t know the actual people he owes again. This is laughable.
Only the people in the same class with our governor will understand his game. But to any right thinking man, that claim is contrary to good reasoning. Something is definitely wrong somewhere. It could be psychological, political or something else. Maybe, vendetta. Just an thinking aloud, anyway.
But for crying out loud, who were the people that he paid N1.5 Billion in 2022? To the ghosts or what? I hope that somebody that is close to His Excellency should ask him to tell the public why he is blowing hot and cold.
It is now crystal clear that all this noise about making a second voyage to the Supreme Court by Mr Governor is nothing but a hoax. It is like presenting a possible award winning ‘script of deceit’ to the people of Oyo State in the new year. In fact, this move can only lead the self-styled Commander-In- Chief of Oyo State to self distraction, wasting of resources and an effort in futility.
Whatever one lacks in the capacity to lead is never a disease. It is always good to own up and seek for help. It doesn’t pay to cover one’s ignorance and weaknesses up and be pouring out venoms to silence the perceived enemies. Somebody, somewhere said to me sometimes ago, that only a coward does that.
The same language used during the coronation ceremony at Ogbomoso to intimidate the aggrieved princes that legitimately went to court on the chieftaincy tussle was also employed at the media chat on the sacked Local Government officials by His Excellency to cow them. “I will go after them, … I will go after them”, GSM boasted. Such threat doesn’t epitomize leadership at all.
Somebody out there should help us to educate our Emperor that in a civilized society, people don’t take law into their hands or resort to self help. The purpose for which courts are created is to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out administration of justice in civil, criminal and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law. No more, no less.
Animals don’t go to court, but civilized people do. That is one of the traits that distinguishes human beings from animals. And it shows in the manner they settle their scores.
This actually was the basis why the sacked Local Government Chairpersons took the option of court in the first place. And to the glory of God, having completed the full cycle of judicial process, according to Julius Caesar, “they came, they saw and they conquered”, Gov Seyi Makinde’s second missionary journey to the Supreme Court notwithstanding.
Oyo State belongs to all of us. You may be in government or out of government today, it does not matter. You may be a leader or a subject, that supposed to be a non-issue. The fact remains that we all have the right to seek redress in courts whenever our rights are trampled upon. Bullying people into submission is an act of cowardice. Simple!
“Eni kole o sare, o sare, eni ko da towo re le, o da sile, kini e tun ni kole o se…?”
This is the time to appeal to the good conscience of Mr governor to allow his subjects to breathe. It is clearly ungodly to suffocate people beyond their tolerable limit. Please, be a leader, do not be a bully. This is my counsel to His Excellency as an addition to his new year resolutions.
I come in peace!
Happy and Prosperous New Year to the good people of Oyo State, and to Nigerians in general.
B. Aderemi Ogundele
(Jagunmolu)
