A socio-political pressure group, Oyo Progressives Front (OPF) has condemned the show of shame exhibited by Governor Seyi Makinde and the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Teslim Folarin during the 2023 governorship debate organised by West Midlands Communications owners of Splash/Lagelu FM stations.
The debate which was held at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan on Wednesday saw the duo of Makinde and Teslim throwing caution to the wind during the session.
A statement by the Group and signed by its coordinator, Comrade Adewale Adeleke noted that the loss of comportment by Makinde and Folarin has clearly shown that they both lack the temperament to administer a complex, discerning and political savvy State like Oyo State.
“The two governorship candidates clearly show they have short fuse and if not for the hallowed institution where the event took place, they could probably have ended the debate in fisticuffs. They threw caution to the winds. We clearly need to commend the organisers for the maturity they deployed in handling the tense situation, though we noted that the session had to be temporarily suspended.
“The Group said Makinde is unfit to continue administering Oyo State. “It is time for him to take a rest. Oyo State has become worse under his stewardship with increased insecurity which had become a thing of the past under late Governor Abiola Ajimobi. We have a lot of killings in the State, which have remained unresolved. Oyo State is again assuming the status of a dirty State capital which was no longer the case under Ajimobi.
“Adeleke also took a swipe at the governor over his utterance that he does not believe in local government autonomy and that he was one of those governors opposed to the Local Government autonomy bill.
“With that statement, Makinde has confirmed that he is only pretending to run a people-oriented administration. We all know the local government is the closest to the people at the grassroots. But the governor, in his own words does not believe in local government autonomy, he refused to allow them function, allocations meant for local governments are diverted to other things. With that statement, he does not deserve the vote of the people of the State.”
Adeleke queried how Governor Makinde would spend about N20billion to build a garage where the State is only generating about N70 million when there are other projects begging for attention such as security, health, pension arrears, among others. On Folarin, the Coordinator said that he is of the same ilk with Makinde. “Apart from having no clear cut blueprint for the State, Oyo State will again lapse into a State where thuggery, brigandage and arson reign as we had pre-2011,” Adeleke declared.
