You Can’t Speak Truth To Power Under This Govt – Makinde

Makinde

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state says it has become difficult to speak truth to power under the current administration, contrasting the situation with what he described as a more consultative approach during the tenure of late President Muhammadu Buhari.

Makinde spoke on Saturday in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, at the 60th birthday celebration of Samson Ajetomobi, president of The Men of Issachar Vision Incorporated (MIV) and overseer of the Redemption Faith Churches.

Former Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo was also in attendance.

Addressing Osinbajo directly, Makinde said he missed his leadership as vice-president.

“Sir, I personally miss you in that position. A lot of people may not know why things are not really the same. This is not a political talk because I’m not on that podium.”

Makinde recalled his early months in office during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying Osinbajo’s leadership as chairman of the National Economic Council (NEC) influenced his decision not to impose a total lockdown in Oyo state.

He said he had been barely seven months into office when the pandemic struck in February 2020, describing the NEC meeting at the time as tense.

“We were told to go back and lock down our states. But for Oyo state people, why I did not lock down during COVID was because of his decision,” he said.

The governor contrasted that experience with the current administration’s handling of the controversial tax reform bill, accusing the federal government of shutting out dissenting views.

“We had the same situation in this dispensation; it was the tax bill. We said, ‘Bring the tax bill back; let us all have an opportunity to look dispassionately at it,’ but you cannot speak truth to power in this dispensation. The tax bill will go ahead.”