2027: Let Makinde Rest, He Spoke the Minds of Nigerians By Babajide Alex Adetunji

Following last Saturday’s declaration by the governor of Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde, that the 2027 presidential contest is between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Nigerian people, some APC lickspittles have been attacking the governor for stating the obvious.

Governor Makinde had, at the commissioning of the South-West PDP Zonal Office built by him in Ibadan, Oyo State, said that the Nigerian people would speak up against the Tinubu government in 2027. Where is the lie?
But, typical of lickspittles, every opportunity to attack an individual for expressing an opinion against their interests must be milked.

Who knows, the next meal might come from turning facts upside down in favour of their vested interests. And so, they swung into action and have begun to bash the governor for exercising his constitutional right to express views.

From APC’s national publicity secretary, Felix Morka to Sola Abegunde, the Ibarapa-born hatchet writer and card-carrying APC member, all sorts of irritable expressions have found their way to the public space regarding Governor Makinde’s views and his rumoured presidential ambition. Of course, writing in favour of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government, should be a big source of income, especially for an Abegunde, whose writings have become a means to scavenge for favours. Though he claims to be putting Makinde’s feet to the fire, residents of Oyo State have seen through his shenanigans. But that will be a topic for another day.

For today, I will only inform the APC apologists knocking Governor Makinde for saying that their party will have it all to do against the Nigerian people in 2027 that the chicken will soon come home to roost for them and their evil party. Of course, every right thinking Nigerian knows that the government of Tinubu has brought nothing but untold hardship to the people.

These people are being pushed daily, with sickeningly unexplainable increments in fuel pump price, products and services that they depend upon to survive. The prices of food products continue to skyrocket. The cost of transportation continues to go up daily. Yet, the APC lickspittles think the Nigerian people will not react when given the opportunity?

Perhaps, Morka, Abegunde and their ilk have never heard the Yoruba proverb, ‘were sun, were sun, bi were ba kan ogiri, yoo duro…’ If they haven’t or they do not properly understand it, it simply means that a sane man who barks at a mentally deranged person should be wary of his reaction, when he is pushed to the wall. Truth be told, the Tinubu government has been pushing Nigerians to the walls with different policies and programmes that stand reason on its head. This administration has simply been riding a roughshod on Nigerians.

Known for their resilience and patience, the people have continued to lap up the rubbish that this government continues to heap on them daily. They have been largely silent, but that cannot go on forever. What Governor Makinde did on Saturday was to engage in a sort of time travel; he only foretold the outcome of this untold hardship being visited on Nigerians by the Tinubu government. Of course, I would not expect anything otherwise from a Makinde, who has been praised time and again for being a people-centric leader.

I read the pieces written by Morka and Abegunde and the two of them were united in inanity. Rather than focusing on the import of Makinde’s short message, they chose to attack Makinde, with one of them even referring to him as ‘Tinubu’s Olongbo.’ Well, I encourage the governor to remain strong and if, indeed, he has the intention of contesting for president; he should go ahead with courage, for as Abegunde has likened him to a cat, he could have nine lives. The writer went into rigmarole of the things that happened prior to the 2023 election, chronicling the roles played by Makinde and his G-5 colleagues. Well, we also remember Makinde saying that he would not be a slave by supporting unfairness and injustice in the name of party loyalty.

He and his colleagues did what they felt was right in the interest of the Nigerian people and should not be crucified for Tinubu’s inability to do what is right for his people as a leader.

Another comic aspect of Abegunde’s write-up was his oft-stated ridiculous view that President Tinubu gifted Makinde a second term. How inane could such a view be? He claimed that Makinde did not deserve a second term.

Pray, was he able to convince people in his father’s unit in Eruwa not to vote for the governor despite all the hate and disdain he expressed against Makinde before the election? Again, I advise the governor to ignore the rants of this hater of the Nigerian people. The task of bringing succour to the Nigerian people is bigger than the slavish mentality of Abegunde, who writes to ‘live.’

Whether the APC dingbats and attack dogs like Makinde’s view or not, it is the gospel truth: the APC will face the Nigerian people in 2027 unless they are able to turn things around quickly. Before then, I encourage everyone who can speak up to do so, enough of this hardship!

Adetunji writes from Jankata, Ibadan.