Re: NGF Retreat And Seyi Makinde’s Inglorious Outing | Adesola Yaqub Tasoolo

A gentleman (or is it a lady) who operates in anonymity and with a fictitious name in the social media space, as the *“EAGLE EYE”*, took it upon himself to assassinate the character of the Oyo State governor-elect, Engineer Seyi Makinde, trying to drag him into the mud, to malign him, to prematurely distract him, to drag him into their gutter politics and to create a collision course between his administration and the good people of Oyo State, even right from embryo.

In a badly written, ill-informed release by the “EAGLE EYE”, adorned with terrible spellings and bad intent, titled as stated above, he made mention of Seyi Makinde stepping into *“shoes bigger than his feet”*. He fingered out his “vulnerability”, “indecorous nature” and “deficiencies in public speaking”, as well as so many other unprintable phrases, far out of context of acceptability and realm of constructive criticism. He even queried if our governor-elect is “well read”. In his pseudo-judgment, the outing was a “near disaster”.

Ordinarily one would naturally want to ignore the rant of a paid e-rat, more so, a spineless one at that, who operates in a mask and writes with bad spellings but the negative energy dissipated in this hatchet job and the weight of bad-faith in it is worrisomely not ignorable.  “EAGLE EYE”’s struggle to rescue his sinking paymasters has blinded him and has destroyed his (or her) sense of courtesy, decorum, mutual respect and journalistic decency. How you were able to come to the conclusion that Seyi Makinde’s “blue Kaftan is cheap” remains legendary.

You see, leadership is the ability to influence people, to get them act together and on time, to provide direction and instill confidence – not the glittering paraphernalia of office that your paymaster adores. What is alien to the mentorship you got from your paymaster is that great leaders showcase humility, simplicity, character, courage and high measure of nobility in their interactions with people. You did not know because humility took a vacation from the Agodi government house eight (8) years ago and it shall return on the 29th of this beautiful month. Your paymaster, on whose sinking ship you are, drowning, has seen the result of arrogance, vulgarity and impunity in leadership.  Of what good is a well dressed, well spoken and decorum-conscious elder statesman who holds the microphone to speak half-truths and decorated fallacies at all times? Igniting rancor and disharmony whenever he speaks.

It was Robert McNamara, one time America’s Secretary of Defense, who said “Our misjudgment of friends and foes alike reflects our profound ignorance of their history, culture, personalities and characters”.  What you need to know is that Makinde will not join you in your gutter politics. He is a chip of the new bloc. He is educated, cultured, civilized and humble. He is flowing a tap of simplicity in governance beginning from 29th May, 2019, and you are free to come with a drinking mug. Makinde and his deputy governor-elect, Remi Olaniyan, are both engineers, they are men of few words but they are doers and great achievers. They are personalities with high sense of dignity, humility and simplicity. While Makinde runs his business empire to an enviable point of success, Olaniyan retired at the peak of his career as a civil servant, a wonderful human manager and an administrator per excellence. Their pair is golden and the duo is greatly loved by the good people of Oyo state. This is evident in the results of the just concluded gubernatorial election in Oyo State, and unlike your paymaster, they did not run aground any Oil and Gas conglomerate under their care.

Simplicity and humility while privileged is not new, just that they are a scarce commodity in this part of the world. Mark Rutte, The Dutch Prime Minister rides daily in bicycle to office and mops coffee spilled by him while walking in public places. We also have examples in Joy Banda (of Malawi), Jose Mujica (of Uruguay), Aliko Dangote (in Nigeria), Sushil Koirala (of Nepal), Babagana Zulum (of Borno Nigeria), as well as Warren Buffet who detests showoff and resides in his simple house purchased since 1958.

I urge you and many others like you, to allow Seyi Makinde and his deputy discharge their duties and fulfill their manifestoes pledges. You will do our beloved state good if you will desist from creating hitch between the new incoming administration and the good people of Oyo State.

And as for the inauguration speech, thanks for your volunteering, but no, thank you.

God bless Oyo State!