By Wole Adejumo With the fair share of opulence God has bestowed on him, not a few people have asked what Engr. Oluseyi Abiodun Makin...
By Wole Adejumo
With the fair share of opulence God has bestowed on him, not a few people have asked what Engr. Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde really wants in politics. True to his belief however, “the good ones among us will lose the moral right to ask questions if politics is left to the old system that has brought us to the stagnancy and abject poverty that permeates all spheres of our nation”.
When Engineer Seyi Makinde lost the governorship election in 2015, one thing was obvious; the winner got elected by less than 35 % of the popular vote. That itself was a significant test of acceptance. For him, it was also a proof that Oyo State was indeed in need of a messianic governor, one who would not only work with determination but would also take teamwork and discipline as core values of his administration.
Over the years, people across the state have come to see Engr. Makinde as a man who is ever mindful of the needs and wants of others. He is someone they can look up to in difficult times. Being the third son of a teacher turned accountant father and a telephone operator mother has helped him stay humble over the past five decades. And he has never disappointed those who look up to him, who have now constituted a vast majority of the state’s population.
Little wonder when the results of the 2019 governorship election started trickling in, Governor Seyi Makinde had a commanding lead; which he maintained till he was eventually declared as the validly elected governor. Even when the results could not be announced because the results from a local government within Ibadan metropolis had not arrived, victory was already certain. Even if the closest opponent had three quarters of the votes from that local government area, it wouldn’t alter the political equation.
The victory did not just happen; those who know Governor Makinde well enough will attest to his firm belief in God and divine timing as well as the incredibly good use of his reputation for excellence. They will likely tell you that the Governor, a 1990 Electrical Engineering Graduate of the University of Lagos, has always been innovative.
After graduating from UNILAG, he made a number of remarkable innovations; including the conversion of gas measuring devices to meet API 14.3 standard in Nigeria. Apart from training at Industrial Control Services in Houston, Texas, Engr. Makinde worked with Shell Petroleum Development Corporation and Rebold International Limited between 1990 and 1997.
The entrepreneur in him led him to the private sector and before the end of 1997; he had already started Makon Engineering and Services Company. It didn’t take long before he proved his mettle as a highly skilled goal-getter. The infant company was transformed into a multi-billion Naira business with locations in Nigeria, South Africa, United Kingdom and US.
Governor Makinde contested twice for Senate, first in 2007 on the All Nigeria People’s Party platform and in 2011 when he vied for the ticket of the People’s Democratic Party. Four years after, he became the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party. Though he lost, he managed the loss, picked lessons from it and from that valley; he worked his way to success in the 2019 election.
Losing the election then was not an end in itself, but a means to an end. It enabled him pay attention to every little detail ahead of the next election. The loss never stopped him from being who he was before the poll. He was simply the same Seyi Makinde the people knew. Interestingly, he was sure he would become Governor and he remained undeterred. In his appreciation letter to the people of Oyo State after he lost in 2015, Engr. Seyi Makinde wrote “even though I am still waiting for my own divine time that God and you good people of Oyo State will make me your governor, I am still going to keep to my promise of doing everything possible to banish unemployment and poverty from our state. I will continue to do whatever I can do along this line as usual while I await my date with destiny”.
The 2019 governorship election in Oyo State was spectacular, political leanings were put aside and as preparations went on, Makinde became the most sought after candidate. Some of his political opponents who underrated him because he had never held an elective position apparently forgot that Engr. Makinde provided strategic support towards the governorship election in 2003 and 2007.
Even without holding an elective post, he has been creating jobs through various youth empowerment programmes.
One of the things that further endeared him to the electorate is that he has always had a roadmap. Ever before being elected, he has been giving people across the state a taste of what to expect. He built blocks of classrooms for his alma mater, Bishop Philips Academy, equipped it with Information Communication Technology and also donated a 5KVA generating set to power them. He has sunk boreholes at various communities in the state and on an annual basis; he sponsors pilgrims to Mecca and Jerusalem. Ajia, his village will never forget him; not just because his late father was born there; in September, 2011, Engr. Makinde constructed a gas powered turbine to generate independent power for Ajia. While Apete residents and students were waiting for the government to come to their aid following the collapse of the bridge that links the area to the remaining part of the city, Engr. Makinde provided bus shuttle services to ease transportation.
While many see him as a gladiator, Governor Makinde has never for once forgotten where he came from. “Oyo State provided me with the platform to be who I am today”, he once said; of course, the foundation was laid at home. Thanks to his education at St. Paul and later St. Michael’s Primary School, Yemetu and Bishop Philips Academy, Iwo Road, Ibadan.
About a year after the 2015 elections, the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes recognized his efforts towards the development of Ibadan and honoured him with a merit award; the highest in the land.
Expectations are super high and the people of Oyo State are united in their hope that with Engr. Makinde’s tenacity and the acceptability he is enjoying, his administration will be the government of their dreams as against the government of their nightmare they have had to endure in the past.
This article first appeared in Omi Tuntun Magazine
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