About Governor Seyi Makinde’s sleepless nights …Real reasons his goodwill and popularity are fast dwindling

 

 

 

 

Oyo State Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde has come under serious fire recently from the opposition, All Progressives Congress (APC) and this has taken its toll on his popularity.

 

 

 

 

The goodwill and popularity with which the Governor rode on to defeat the APC and won the election as the only Governor from the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the SouthWest region is fast dwindling and would soon evaporate.

 

 

 

 

At the beginning of the outbreak of the deadly Coronavirus, the APC in the State had asked Governor Makinde to tender his resignation letter if he knows he could not manage the pandemic the State.

 

 

 

 

The APC described the Governor as arrogant and condemned Makinde for handling Coronavirus outbreak in the State with negligence.

 

 

 

 

The APC went ahead to say all the advice given to Makinde by his aides and party chieftains had continued to fall on his “deaf ears”.

 

 

 

 

The APC also accused Makinde of abuse of power. This accusation might not be unconnected with the Governor’s refusal to obey court orders and reinstate the sacked Local government Chairman.

 

 

 

 

The party noted that the excuse of no money by the Governor Makinde’s government would not be tenable considering that the government just decided wrongly to roll out its intention to fix some roads at the time of the global pandemic.

 

 

 

 

The APC said, “Governor Seyi Makinde should wake up from his vainglory of being “one man opposition that was giving the ruling Party headache. He is now in government and should brace up to the challenges of governance like this Covid-19 pandemic.”

 

 

 

 

As if this was not enough, an Ibadan-based lawyer, Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN) also expressed shock that the Governor Makinde-led administration has not deemed it necessary to inaugurate a ‘think-tank’ team to enhance the performance of his government.

 

 

 

 

Akintola, who was a 2019 Governorship aspirant of the APC said, “You (Governor Makinde) need to subject your actions to self-criticism. I remember I have been in the think-tank team of at least two governments, I won’t mention names. Those of us who were in the think-tank were not necessarily the commissioners or people you see in government, no, but serious thinking goes on behind the scene.

 

 

 

 

 

“I can only speak as a stakeholder – there is danger here; let’s correct this and that. But anything that comes with the issue of policy or governance is not my business. I am in the APC; he is in the PDP. I will not even be trusted if I bring such suggestion. What connects all of us is something like COVID-19; I visited the state’s isolation centre to see what was going on there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“For instance, Governor Seyi Makinde has no management team for COVID-19. Until the management team is put in place, I will not release my cheque for COVID-19 donation to the state’s COVID-19 account.”

 

 

 

 

 

The senior lawyer, who stressed the need for government to subject issues to critical thinking before acting or speaking, recalled that during the first term of former Governor Abiola Ajimobi, he quickly put in place a think-tank team headed by Prof. Demola Ariyo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Governor’s goodwill with which the he rode on to win the 2019 election would soon run out if he did not change his mind about the sacked Local Government Chairmen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Investigations by Nigeriastandardng revealed that the people of Oyo State have getting fed up with Governor Makinde’s style of leadership, saying that the Governor is stubborn, arrogant and too rigid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to them, “Governor Makinde is becoming too full of himself. He has no regard for the law because he has continue to flout various court orders which directed him to reinstate the Local Government Chairmen that he sacked.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nigeriastandardng reliably gathered that the people of Oyo State are almost regret electing Makinde as the Governor following his stubbornness and constant disregard for law.

 

 

 

 

Nigeriastandardng also learnt that since the Governor is not willing to change his ways, his handlers and some of his aides are struggling really hard to save what is left of Makinde’s good will and popularity.