If Governor Seyi Makinde would give me the opportunity to make just one request, which he would grant, I would advise him to sack some of his aides and advisers. They have failed in their statutory duties and assignments.
One fact is crystal clear about Governor Makinde: he does not have good advisers. Or should I say he has good advisers, but his obvious lack of self-confidence and self-esteem make him grandstands against the advice of his men?
An ignorant will be desperate to conceal his ineptness through blind argument against those who know better than him. I am not saying a whole Governor like Seyi Makinde is ignorant of what good governance is all about; however, his dispositions evince that of an uncanny man who accidentally found himself presiding over the affairs of the wise in the temple of justice.
Yesterday, I watched his official address on the spate of violence that engulfed Shasha Community. I could not but shook my head in utter dismay and disappointment. In his over 2-minute address, the Governor had nothing to offer the victims of Shasha carnage save his usual rhetorics – panel of enquiry.
The worst part of his address was the mention of an unfortunate incident of shooting between a policeman and a member of the Amotekun Corps. Governor Makinde announced the setting up of another panel of enquiry on this minor brawl between a policeman and an Amotekun Corps member. Isn’t this hilarious!
It is so obvious that the Governor has more axe to grind with the Police Command in Oyo State. Some of us are calling for a harmonious and smooth relationship between the Governor and the Police. Unfortunately, the Governor finds ravishment in drawing us back. What exactly are the issues Governor Seyi Makinde has with the Police authority in the State?
The frosty relationship between the Governor and the Police in the State is getting more confounding and indecipherable. How on earth will Governor Makinde engage in acts capable of inciting the public against the Police once more! Have the Police not had enough in the hands of EndSARS hoodlums, when the were lynched, killed, burnt and their roasted flesh eaten in broad daylight?
Till date, Governor Seyi Makinde has not uttered a word, either officially or unofficially, as regards the despicable and gory incident of these killings. Did he set up any panel of enquiry on these crimes perpetrated against the Police? No! The next thing was for the Governor to be lumping a minor issue between a policeman and an Amotekun Corps member with Shasha Crisis. It is so unfortunate.
I doubt if the Governor’s handlers knew the gravity of such a careless and reckless press release. If the Governor and his aides do not know, it is capable of inciting another wave of violence against the Police in the State. The Police will want to resist, by force, any act of murder against them by hoodlums. And this may spell another doom for Oyo State. As if we have had not enough violence and brigandage in the State.
Governor Makinde should settle whatever grievances and rifts he has with the Police formation in the State. He cannot do it alone. Amotekun and Operation Burst cannot do it alone. Their manpower are limited. He needs the Police to ensure the security of lives and property of the people of Oyo State. Failure to do so, the people of the State are at the receiving end.
May we have lasting peace in Oyo State.
Adejare ibrahim is a public affairs commentator, writes from Oyo Alaafin
