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By Samuel Adegoke
A group within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo state, known as The Pacesetter Initiative (TPI) and another group within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, called PDP Visionaries have trade words over the recent foreign trip of Governor Seyi Makinde.
The TPI said Makinde’s trip to the United States of America (US) at a time the state is deep in security breaches is the height of insensitivity.
But PDP Visionaries described the criticism as unpatriotic and uncharitable. It added that the APC elements have become unnecessarily obsessed with criticising Makinde over insecurity because they are jittery that the government has been winning all the wars they are staging to rubbish its efforts.
Though the TPI said there was no official confirmation on the governor’s overseas trip, it said it confirmed through impeccable sources that the governor left Nigeria on December 31, 2020, to unite with members of his immediate family who it says are permanent residents of Houston, Texas in the US and returned to Nigeria on Monday.
In a statement issued on Monday by the group’s coordinator, Hon. Afeez Bolaji and Director of Organisation, Olawale Sadare, TPI frowned at what it called a height of insensitivity and ineptitude on the part of Makinde who it accused of abandoning his people when they needed him most.
TPI said: “How can a Chief Executive Officer and Chief Security Officer of an important state like Oyo leave his hapless people to the mercy of hoodlums, kidnappers and other criminal elements in the name of an unofficial foreign trip? And to make the matter worse, the governor sneaked out without doing all that was necessary as laid down in the Constitution of the land.
“Gov. Makinde’s trip to the United States, this time, came at a time his government needed to arrest the surging challenges of insecurity bedevilling virtually every part of the state as residents of Ibadan, Oke-Ogun, Ibarapa, Ogbomoso and Oyo were gnashing their teeth on account of coordinated hoodlum attacks, kidnappings, killings and other organized crimes.
“As a Group of patriots, we could have expressed little or no worries if the situation had not degenerated to the point of ceaseless loss of lives and property in the affected areas. But our independent investigation revealed that those responsible for the crime surge in the state had taken advantage of Gov. Makinde’s poor handling of the security issues since he came on board in 2019 as against what was experienced during the eight year reign of his immediate predecessor, late Senator Abiola Ajimobi.
“The situation took a turn for the worse immediately the governor traveled last month and it became known to the perpetrators of crime that nobody was in the saddle again because Gov. Makinde did not hand over the baton to his deputy as expected. As a result of this, the PDP administration in the state became leaderless and rudderless since the governor who has been running a one-man show found it appropriate to abandon his duty post at a critical time and without allowing anyone to act in his capacity as necessary for no known reasons.
“It is equally appalling to note that none of those expected to take the bull by the horn and mobilize all the necessary actions to quell the ugly situation are not visible at all. Only the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor reels out half truths and propaganda to create a fake impression that all is well with the state. The question in the lips of the people is whether the governor’s blanket ban on all officials of the state to speak up also affect the Speaker and members of the State House of Assembly.”
PDP Visionaries, however, decried the attempt by the APC group to link the governor’s reported trip abroad to the insecurity in the country which is also affecting Oyo State, as an attention-seeking measure only meant to further resonate the noise they are known for.
The group noted that the criticism by the APC group is needless since the situation in the state is being carefully handled by the appropriate authorities and that the governor does not have to be physically present for actions to be taken.
According to the group, the war against insecurity in Oyo State, which is a reflection of the general situation in Nigeria, is being won due to the strategies and concerted efforts of the Makinde government.