OYO: Why some ‘elements’ threaten me with 2023 election – Makinde

GOVERNOR Makinde has revealed why his circle of political adversaries keeps expanding almost daily in the state.

The governor said some elements within the state are disgruntled because there are no more easy pickings to be made under his government.

He noted that these elements, which he did not disclose, are used to free money keep are pressuring him against messing with their honey pots.

According to the governor, these powerful elements have continued to threaten him on his 2023 ambition.

Makinde, however, added that he would not be cowed into submission, noting that his administration would continue to plug the loopholes in government in order to prevent wastage and facilitate development.

The governor spoke at the public presentation of two books authored by the former Chief Medical Director of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Prof. Temitope Alonge, titled, ’Public private partnership in health’ and ‘Driven by passion, enabled by grace.’

Lauding Alonge for the initiative at the event held at the Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan, the governor said, “Is it all rosy? No. There are people within the system that are used to free money and they are still there. And all they can say to me is that I am messing with their honey pots and have blocked loopholes they are making money from.

“They do threaten me on 2023 ambition, saying I will come back again but I may or may not; that is the news for them. I will ensure that those loopholes remain blocked. The PPP, which Professor Alonge wrote about, is the saving grace for Oyo State right now. We actually call it the Alternative Project Funding Approach, which for us, is very simple.

“We go to a capital organisation with access to money and tell them that the government cannot take everything on at the same time. We will give you an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order. What that does is, it allows the government to execute projects without paying upfront 100 per cent. So, for us, by the time some of these projects are being handed over, the government would have paid only 35-38 per cent of the total cost. But in the approach of the previous government, you have to pay 30 per cent upfront for the contractor to even mobilise to site.

“If you have travelled through the road going from Eleyele/Ologuneru to Eruwa, the work that has been done right now is not up to 40 per cent. The government paid more than 60 per cent upfront and the quality is just so bad. But with the PPP that we call APFA, by the time we are paying 38 per cent, the project has been handed over to us and we have over 60 per cent of the contractor’s money with us. So, he will do a good job, otherwise, we will use the remaining 60 per cent to fix the bad portion. So, it is not just dealing with the paucity of funds but also ensuring quality. That is what we get from APFA.

“If we need honest politicians and those that will focus on the people, then we have to clean up our environment because society will throw them up. We do have people who, according to Professor Alonge, are outliers. We have many outliers out there but they are scared to come out. I want to use this opportunity to encourage them; if we have maybe two per cent of the outliers in, we need to encourage them to come out. If they occupy 70 or 80 per cent of political positions, then, we will see a major difference.”

Makinde had said recently that he was not afraid of losing the 2023 governorship election.

The governor, who said he was not beholden to any man, stressed that God made him governor of Oyo State and he has no political father.

Though he did not mention it, his reaction may not be unconnected with comments from some quarters in the political space of Oyo State who keep accusing him of being a political neophyte.

The politicians have said the governor is not ‘a politician’ as he does not take care of party stalwarts

It is believed that this is one of the reasons why former governor Rasheed Adewolu Ladoja recently collapsed his Zenith Labour Party (APC) to join the All Progressives Congress (APC) together with his loyalists.

Ladoja’s ZLP was one of the parties that worked with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to wrest the reins of power from the APC in the 2019 governorship election.