Worried by the way the funds belonging to Oyo state are being channeled for what it described as unimportant projects, Team Oyo, a group of professionals from the state who are committed to its development, has asked Governor Seyi Makinde to fear the day he would leave office and look back at what he did as the state helmsman.
The group said Governor Makinde’s obvious anger issue made those around him not to always tell him the truth because he may not talk to them again after he is being properly advised. It added that when leaders are unfortunate to surround themselves with ‘yes men’, the end will not be well.
A statement by Kolapo Isiaka, Pro tem chairman of Team Oyo, said most of the projects the Makinde's administration has initiated have been damaged few years after they were said to be commissioned.
Asking that Makinde still has time to correct himself, the group said it is unhappy as another round of tax-payers money would be spent and given to the same contractors.
According to the group, “We are miffed hearing that Governor Makinde is about to release another fund for the Oyo State Rule of Law Enforcement Authority which he created recently. We are greatly worried and at the same time sad at the quality of people around our governor. We have the Oyo Road Traffic Management Authority, OYRTMA; we have the Oyo State Waste Management Authority, OYWMA; there is the environmental task force. We also have other security agencies who can collaborate with them to ensure the right things are done. But no, it seems our governor owes some people and they must be paid. Now, we heard from the grapevine that over 50 vehicles are about to be bought for the newly created agency as well as monthly subvention running to several millions of naira would be allocated.
“All these are coming at a time the purse of every state has become lean and couldn’t go on with important aspects of governance. The schools across Oyo State are in moribund condition. A clear example is the primary school in front of Late Justice Kayode Eso’s house and the Ikolaba High School adjacent to the entrance of the governor’s private residence. For five years, the governor has passed there and nothing has been done.
“The rehabilitation of the roads within some few areas around the state house are being shoddily done and even a layman can see it. Remember how the government wasted close to 3 billion naira on the Felele junction improvement. You need to go there and see things for yourself. Whenever it rains, it is flooded for days.
“The Iseyin-Fapote-Ogbomoso road commissioned not long ago has been messed up. Governor Makinde needs to sit down and relax and take stock of what he has done. If the little he has done is spoiling right in his eyes, what would happen when he leaves office? His former colleagues are daily guests of the anti-graft agencies. He should remember that these people won’t follow him anywhere though we don’t pray that it becomes his end.”