Governor Seyi Makinde is a clever man. Like his predecessors and brother governors, he has single-handedly and successfully penetrated and pocketed the spirits and souls of the 33 local government administrations in the state. By plotting and planting his puppets in those positions of power, influence, and authority, the governor has shown clearly that he’s no different from other politicians the rest of the country has complained about.
Today, the political and economic survival of the local government areas in Oyo State is permanently and deliberately tied to his apron string. He buys them furniture, rehabilitates their roads, pays their security allowances, approves projects, awards contracts, digs their gutters, hand-picks their chairmen, receives their allocations, and gives them crumbs—and still has the audacity to complain about the lopsidedness and imbalance in our political configuration!
While not being the first to turn local councils into another cash cow venture, available records show he has definitely surpassed his predecessor’s level of impunity, high-handedness, and emperor-like style. Despite being elected, the various council bosses are said to kowtow to him. Literally, they have turned him into an unquestionable helmsman. In a way, the swift and sweet reform promised by the governor to open up rural areas to socio-economic opportunities and prosperity in the last election has hit a brick wall. At the moment, life in rural areas is at its lowest point. People have become poorer. Undoubtedly, the grass-roots economy has been stifled. Development in those areas is stunted. Growth is distant. What we know as government, which is closer to the people, is no longer with the people. It is now with the governor in Ibadan. “The council chairmen are being cursed by their people for doing nothing.” President Buhari averred in one of his interventions on local government autonomy, “They cannot say anything against the governor who unilaterally imposed them as chairmen, so they bear it.”
One of the hidden facts about Nigerian politics is the enormous amount of power held by the governors. In fact, according to WTO Director General, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the combined 36 state governors in the country are more powerful and influential than the president. They can force the President to do their bidding; blackmail the President to follow their dictates; and coerce the President to dance to their tunes. Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala narrates this dangerous power dynamics in her book, Fighting Corruption is Dangerous. In that gripping, eye-opening, and riveting book, Dr. Iweala walked readers through the heartbreaking decision former President Goodluck Jonathan was persuaded to make on January 1, 2012. In addition, her account of that counterintuitive and insensitive decision underscored the persuasive power of the governors—one man against 36 men is no game at all. Against all grains of common sense, the 36 state governors at that time compelled the president to remove fuel subsidies on New Year’s Eve without the knowledge of the coordinating minister of the economy. Because of that single hasty decision, the whole country fell into unprecedented panic, chaos, and frenzy — and eventually booted President Jonathan out if power.
But when President Muhammadu Buhari accused some governors of stealing local government funds on Thursday, February 2, 2022, only two out of 36 pushed back. The rest, including Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, went into hibernation. On his part, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike countered the president for making such a generalization. Like his Delta State counterpart, Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor Wike also called for the public naming of the accused governor. “I challenged the Governor to mention the names of the governors,” he said to the applause of the public at the event.
As a matter of fact, this is not the first time President Buhari has drawn the attention of the public to the heist committed by the state governor. In an exclusive interview with Arise TV, President Muhammadu Buhari stated that “the governors have virtually killed the local government system.” He went further by saying “most of the council chairmen are not carrying out any projects because the governors are taking the money belonging to the councils and are just giving them enough to pay salaries.” After starving them of their legitimate funds and sensing the growing disaffection against his hand-picked council chairmen, Governor Seyi Makinde on May 21, 2022, instructed the local government chairmen to submit a list of roads for rehabilitation.
The state commissioner for information and culture, Wasiu Olatunbosun, made the disclosure while fielding questions from Aanuoluwapo Ominrinde on Bottom Line, a political program on IBR 92.5fm Ibadan. “The information I have is that His Excellency has directed that the chairmen compile the list of roads to be rehabilitated and submit it.” Once that is done, he enthusiastically concluded that work will commence. When President Buhari said governors have unilaterally killed the local government system, this is what he meant. It is quite pathetic that for the past three and a half years, no council boss has invited Governor Makinde to commission a project. There is nothing to commission in the rural areas except projects facilitated by the state government. “When I was serving as the caretaker committee chairman of my local government area between 2019 and 2022”, one former council boss depressingly told me, “Anything above N50,000 must be approved from Ibadan.” “But even now, no council chairman can execute a project worth N10,000,000 without the approval of the governor.”
Unsurprisingly, Governor Seyi Makinde didn’t mince words when he accused all the local council bosses of corruption at a recent interview in Ibadan. He publicly and intentionally dragged the chairmen into the dirty water of politics. For what? Maybe to score cheap political point or to divert the attention of the people from asking uncomfortable questions about his government. Whichever way, that old tactic of blame game has failed. Instead of taking courageous cue from the heroic exploits of Mr. Dele Abiodun, former Ekiti local government Chairman who stood up to challenge the impunity of Governor Bukola Saraki, our own local government chairmen silently and suffering and dare-I-say smiling! Summarily, the earlier we embrace and collectively work to stamp out this entrenched impunity, the better for us. Unfortunately, hypocrisy has eaten deep into the fabric of our region. It’s a shame that those advocating for restructuring haven’t put as much pressure on Southwest governors and particularly in Oyo as they have on other issues. “Charity,” as the saying goes, “begins at home.
OYO101 is Muftau Gbadegesin’s opinion about Issues affecting Oyo state, published on Saturdays. He can be reached via @TheGMAKing on Twitter, muftaugbadegesin@gmail.com and 09065176850
