- This afternoon, over 96 hours after Governor Seyi Makinde “apologized” over the Ibadan rally, the Oyo State NUJ released a damning report about Makinde’s romance with Covid-19 after an inspection of facilities across Ibadan. Now, if you have even the faintest idea of how state chapters of these unions can be fantastically corrupt in their relationship with state authorities, glamorizing their iniquities in fine prose/diction after every payola festival, you would say a prayer for Oyo upon reading that disturbing statement. Titled “You are not ready to tackle Coronavirus in Oyo – NUJ fires Makinde”, the report was as heart-wrenching as it tried to be “respectful”. Those guys must have equally been frustrated by what I keep posting here every now and then.
- The inconvenient fact is that as I type this, barring late-minute face-saving cosmetic efforts, the Seyi Makinde government has shown no willingness to tackle this monster that has turned the world upside down—-his “apology” notwithstanding. The reality is that it’s either the governor is shockingly ignorant or fantastically clueless about this whole issue.
- Given my terrible experience in the past, I had vowed to remain mute on Oyo issues but I chose to post this after reading the NUJ statement this afternoon. For posterity’s sake. Besides, I heard on radio stations yesterday that there is virtually NOTHING on ground at the Olodo testing centre to show that the place can accommodate even a dog. A known Makinde sycophant had to cry out across social media yesterday that the place was BUSHY and DESERTED.
- Here is how the NUJ described the Olodo testing centre based on their visitation on Sunday (yesterday):
“Some journalists in the state who visited the government designated Centre for infectious disease control which would double as Emergency Operation Centre in Olodo area of the city observed that there was no indication of adequate preparedness on the part of government. A team who visited the Olodo centre was disturbed that the announced centre was still a ghost land with bushes and access blocked.“We learnt a team led by Dr Bashir Bello, the State Commissioner for Health visited the facility but didn’t have access as they had no keys. Another member of our team contacted UCH and found that they were yet to get any funding assistance from state government for this pandemic.
(Please check FULL REPORT in comment section.) - Now, what have Makinde and his folks done after the apology on Thursday? First, the governor welcomed Davido (who reportedly arrived from the UK/US this week) on Friday night, had photo sessions with the pop star and dude jumped into clubs in Ibadan and performed at the weekend among sweaty crowds.
- Again, Taiye Currency, Special Adviser to the Governor on Culture and Tourism, performed at crowded places all through the weekend in Ibadan and environs. At one of the shows, he went LIVE on Facebook, threatening fire and brimstone, calling out those who said he should have been in self-isolation (or, since he has proven to be a lawless dingbat, be forcefully isolated).
- Yesterday, I understand Governor Makinde himself was at a PDP reconciliatory meeting in Lagos, away from Ibadan and environs where people have become apprehensive. Reportedly.
- I highlighted these here not because I care about this any longer. I was terribly disappointed and have chosen to simply do the little I can do for folks around me. But I can’t keep this to myself for the sake of my beloved city. There are conspiracy theories about IITA, Edmund Obilo and Atiku’s son who tested positive today regarding their connection with folks in Ibadan. I choose to regard those as conspiracy theories until proven otherwise. But Ibadan is on a keg of gunpowder, giving its public hygiene records (Aside Aba, where the governor reportedly said they are covered by their biblical mention or so, Ibadan is one other city state I am always worried should there be any public epidemic such as this, given the state of public hygiene).
- I have said it repeatedly on here that Makinde’s governance by apologia isn’t new to anyone who follows developmental issues in Oyo state. Dude understands that Nigerians are in a hurry to discover their first post-1999 political hero, and they would patch-patch that supposed hero to suit their fantasy. So, he has a communication/Payola team who manipulates these dynamics quite excellently, feeding into the general anti-Buhari/anti-Ajimobi public sentiment. While he has made some genuinely good moves in the past, the governor hasn’t done anything to deserve the hosanna songs trumpeted by his crowd on Twitter every now and then (Some of us have refrained from doing critical appraisal of socio-economic numbers just so we can allow him breathe and effectively GOVERN, but he appears to love to govern on Twitter-vile than from Agodi). Yes, there are folks who are genuinely angry with the garrulous Ajimobi as they are with a do-nothing Buhari, and rightly so, but many in Makinde’s Hosannah crowd sing his praise for doing virtually nothing in concrete terms only to spite Buhari/Ajimobi. While this isn’t bad in itself anyway, it has only succeeded in exposing the innocent, vulnerable people of Oyo to more dangers as folks are determined to look away even if Makinde commits the most atrocious of unpardonable errors.
- One thing Covid-19 may have shown is that Makinde is a successful scam artist: it takes a genius to be so DELIBERATELY incompetent and irresponsible YET be praised by a fawning crowd and that the governor deserves a medal. But then, on the flipside, if all dynamics are considered, he may not be more ingenious than a roadside scam artist in Ojuelegba. He only has a ready-made crowd of willing victims/enablers.
May we call on his fawning crowd to sing his favourite song into his ears so that he can ACT Now. And this time, he should ACT for the sake of the people, not for the camera, or to satisfy the voyeuristic demand of his Twitter crowd (who are themselves safely ensconced in their Ac-ied offices in Enugu, Calabar, Lokoja, Lagos and Abuja.)
Coronavirus: Ibadan and the danger of a Governor’s Scam Artistry|ByOladeinde Olawoyin
