You Can’t Just Wake Up, Set Up Army Divisions Without Plan — Makinde Tackles Tinubu’s Security Efforts

The presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, has criticised President Bola Tinubu over the planning behind the establishment of additional army divisions to tackle insecurity.

Makinde said the Federal Government could not simply decide to establish new army divisions without making adequate plans and providing for them in the national budget.

“You can’t wake up and, without any plan, say, ‘I’m setting up army divisions to tackle insecurity,’” Makinde said.

The Oyo governor said he examined the 2026 Appropriation Act while trying to identify the budgetary provision for the establishment of the additional army divisions but could not find it.

“Midway into 2026, they set up army divisions, and I was looking at the 2026 budget and was looking for the item relating to the setting up of those army divisions. I did not see it. If they have it in the budget they prepared for 2026, they should bring it out,” he said.

Makinde also challenged the argument that state governments now have more resources because of increased allocations from the Federation Account.

He said while state governments had indeed received more money, the increase had not translated into an effective response to hunger and other challenges confronting Nigerians.

“They claim state governors have more money, that the state governments have been collecting more money from the Federation Account. I’m not arguing with that. Yes, the quantum of the money, yes, we have more money, but has it translated to fighting hunger in our society? The answer is no,” he said.

The APM presidential candidate also linked Oyo State’s changing dependence on the Federation Account to economic policies under the Tinubu administration.

Makinde said Oyo’s dependence on FAAC dropped from over 80 per cent when he assumed office in 2019 to 65 per cent by 2022, but later rose to almost 80 per cent following the removal of fuel subsidy by Tinubu and what he described as the President’s “voodoo economics.”

He said the figures showed that increased allocations alone were not enough to address the economic and security challenges facing Nigerians, stressing the need for proper planning and policies that translate available resources into tangible improvements in people’s lives.