Appeal Court judgment, Makinde and Oyo’s medley of songs

ON October 29, Governor Seyi Makinde ticked off the fifth month on the 48-month calendar of the first term of his administration.

On that day, there were no drums or fanfare, at least from the side of the government. But there were songs, even if they were acapella. Yes, there were songs. The teeming people of Oyo State, who have had a new song on their lips since the May 29, 2019 inauguration day of the Seyi Makinde administration, which has brought a different approach to governance in the state, have continued their songs of adulations for Governor Makinde.

These songs cut across different spheres of the state’s life; they are a medley of inspiring songs about how Governor Makinde is restoring sanity to Oyo State, a once-so-glorious state which housed the capital of the Western Region, administered in its glory days by the revered Chief Obafemi Awolowo, GCFR.

In recent years, that state was brought to its knees by politicians who lacked foresight but warehoused unimaginable greed and avarice. The songs on the lips of residents and those outside the state continue to commend Governor Makinde’s efforts across different spheres, especially based on the four-point agenda of his administration: education, health, expanded economy and security.

But less than two weeks after the fifth month of Makinde in power, the Court of Appeal, sitting in Ibadan, gave its judgment on the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal. It introduced a strange sound to the medley of songs in the state. The court gave a judgment that legal experts and laymen describe in unison as confusing. In one breath, it affirmed the election of Governor Makinde, while at the same “allowing” the appeal against the judgemtn of the Tribunal.

Undeterred, however, residents of the state and lovers of its progress have continued their songs, this time adding songs of solidarity in support of the People’s Governor.

Why the songs? In just five months in office, Governor Makinde has laid a solid foundation for a greater Oyo State, with strategic vision and action plans as well as a style of leadership that puts the people first and at the driving seat of their own affairs.

In five months, GSM, as he is now fondly called, has put Oyo on the trajectory of accelerated development in various sectors, the latest being the innovative idea on budget planning known as the inclusive budget initiative, which allows citizens engagement and involvement in budgeting and economic planning.

As of 29 October, the government had approved a grant of N526 million to primary and secondary schools in the state in replacement of the N3,000 education levy, which Governor Makinde scrapped five months earlier on assumption of office.

The governor had given the people of the state something to sing about on May 29, when he announced the scrapping of the levy, noting that the decision was in tandem with his agenda to restore the state’s glory through free qualitative education. He had followed that up with the downward review of the 2019 budget in which he increased the budgetary allocation to education to 10 per cent from a paltry three per cent he inherited. With the introduction of policies such as the distribution of textbooks and exercise books to all students in public secondary schools, the immediate turnaround of education infrastructure, organisation of extra-mural classes for SSS III students in the state and the recent approval for the recruitment of teachers for public schools, the Makinde administration had also set the state on the path to greatness in education.

The Makinde administration’s achievements in the education sector, no doubt, gave residents a reason to sing. Indeed, the Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) had recently joined in the singing, in recognition of Makinde’s achievements on free education when he commended the governor for taking up the challenge of free education.

Beyond education, there are other reasons for Oyo residents’ songs. In five months, Governor Makinde has not missed an opportunity to make pensioners in the state sing to God for giving them a new dawn. By October 25, workers in the state had been paid their October salary in full, because the governor has brought a tradition of salary payment not later that 25th of every month, which the workers have now christened the GSM Date.

In the area of infrastructure, a few days ago, the Oyo State Governor raised the songs of praise for his administration several decibels when he announced the awarding of the contract for the total reconstruction of the 65-kilometre Ibadan-Iseyin Road. The last administration of Abiola Ajimobi awarded a contract for the rehabilitation of the road, but that contract turned out to be a sham, as nothing was done on the road since February 2018 when it was first awarded. This was after N2 billion of Oyo State’s resources had found its way into private pockets through the immediate past administration, which awarded the rehabilitation (not reconstruction) of the road for N7billion out of which the sum of N2 billion was paid to the contractor. But Governor Makinde, who had since his first week in office, made a commitment to fixing that strategic road, came through for the people of Oke-Ogun, when he re-awarded the contract to do a full reconstruction at the cost of N9 billion.

Across different sectors, residents of Oyo State are singing in praise of the many policies of the Makinde administration, which are targeted at reviving the economy of the state and making life better for its people. But Governor Makinde himself had recently proven his mettle as a master of songs. He had lyrically fired shots into the camps of the detractors when he borrowed the words of the late philosophical musician, Bob Marley: “You can fool some people sometimes, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”

The governor, piqued by the daily-unfolding rot left behind by the Abiola Ajimobi administration and the millions of Oyo State people’s money committed to projects that have brought no value, stated this at the Jericho Specialist Hospital, Ibadan.

Of course, those conversant with developments in Oyo State would remember how supporters of Ajimobi’s profligate administration never missed an opportunity to sing like canaries on the policies of the Makinde’s administration. They have continually released songs of hate and regret that they lost Oyo State, a cow they mercilessly milked for eight years, leaving the people massively malnourished and in bitter suffering. They had come for Governor Makinde on his decision to scrap the N3,000 levy; they attacked him for distributing textbooks; they pilloried him with criticisms for improving the standard of the State Hospital, Ring Road; the attacked him for daring to construct the Iwo Road interchange. They aimed shots at him for insisting on several occasions that Oyo State people must get value for their money on projects instituted by the previous administration. Day in day out, Oyo APC members sang daily in sadness that Governor Makinde was succeeding where they failed.

So, when the Court of Appeal gave its judgment, which the APC members in Oyo State and outside, in their feeble minds, misread for a victory, they thought it was another opportunity for their ludicrous singsong. Their intention, as usual, was to pervert the songs of hope and joy occasioned by the Makinde leadership by confusing the public, but that song of deceit would not last, as the Court of Appeal’s decision was clearly and unmistakably an affirmation of Governor Makinde’s landslide victory in the March 9, 2019 election.

Sadly, the APC managed to forget how it was roundly trounced in the election, with Governor Makinde, backed by the people of Oyo State, polling 515,621 votes while the APC, with federal might and the support of political desperados and political buccaneers in some states of the South-West, only polling 357,982 votes.

They are in town with songs now, they sing about reclaiming a mandate that no one gave them; they sing about Supreme Court giving them a mandate that the people of Oyo State did not give them. They met and are still meeting across the country, planning evil against the God-send, the People’s Governor, but someone has to tell them that their songs will never be heard again. No, the loudness of Oyo State people’s songs of hope and a new beginning; songs of inspiration and fresh showers that Oyo can move from poverty to prosperity and songs of freedom from the ruinous APC government will deaden their voices.

Governor Makinde, like the orchestra leader, had borrowed from Bob Marley’s medley of powerful and philosophical songs, to send a note of warning to the APC in Oyo State and outside it sometimes ago, but before then, the Oyo State people seemed to have been singing another Marley song entitled Redemption Songs.

“Old pirates yes they rob I, sold I to the merchant ships minutes after they took I from the bottomless pit. But my hand was made strong by the hand of the Almighty. We forward in this generation triumphantly. All I ever had is songs of freedom, won’t you help to sing these songs of freedom. ‘cause all I ever had redemption songs…,” Marley had seemed to be reflecting the situation of Oyo State, where the APC, like the old pirates, robbed the state for eight years and nearly sold it to the merchant ships from Lagos. Thanks to God, the people’s hands were made strong on March 9, 2019 and forward, with Governor Makinde, the state has begun to move triumphantly.

The enthronement of Makinde has brought about the redemption song, which the APC and some spent forces are now struggling to stop through the backdoor. They are attempting to corner the Judiciary against the people. They will fail and like the Easterners would say, Tufiakwa! The redemption songs will never stop.

 Alao is the Special Assistant (Print Media) to Governor Makinde.