I am building on Awolowo’s legacy, no presidential ambitions – Makinde

…As Oyo prepares to unveil “Amotekun”

…Says Nigeria must kick against one party state

Seyi Makinde, the governor of Oyo State, weekend, dismissed insinuations that he is nursing presidential ambition in 2027, but stated that he is committed to reviving the legacy left behind by Obafemi Awolowo, the former Premier of old Western Region.

Makinde also appealed to Nigerians to stand against any room for a one party state in the country.

Speaking with journalists at the resuscitated old Fashola Farm Agricbusiness hub, in Oyo State, Saturday, Makinde, vowed to transform Oyo into a major agricultural center in the South West, just as he promised to strengthen internal security to drive off bandits and terrorists from the state.

“ We didn’t do this because, somebody has a presidential ambition. No. But all I can say to you is, I’m old enough, if I want to do something, I will come out and say, this is what I want to do,” he said.

“So, no speculation, nobody can push my agenda. I will push my agenda when the time comes.

“I’m glad that you’ve been able to go to a few of our project sites. Where you are right now is Fashola agribusines Hub. It is a farm estate.”

This is supposed to be the middle of nowhere. It was an idea conceptualised during, Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s time as a premier of western region.
Here they were breeding cattles, the mother cattles, the breeders that you would now take somewhere else to breed and sell and eat, But Nigeria happened to this place, they ate the breeder and the mothers. They ate everything. now we’re trying to rebuild this. Where you are is space for agro-tourism.

Less than 500 meters to the farm lies a building, a bridge and fire house, that bore glowing testimony to the original concept of Awolowo’s legacy, from the 1950s, where the farm keepers protected the large number of cattle in the far.

Makinde said his administration wants to leave a legacy of good governance, by refurbishing all of that so that we can tell our story. That, once upon a time, there was a country that built Cocoa House from efforts like this”

He recalled that “ Cocoa House”, which was the first skyscraper south of Sahara, had suffered neglects, even as successive governments failed to add value.

“If you go to Dugbe today, after that first one, we’ve not been able to build a second one.
But if you go to Israel, Tel Aviv precisely, I saw their first skyscraper. It was built six years after Cocoa House, but, if you go around Tel Aviv today, they have almost 2,000 other skyscrapers in there. And we have not even built a second one, here.

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“So, it’s just an opportunity to show you that, a long time ago, thinkers passed through this place. They did certain things and for us, we want to bring some of these things back and see how we can utilize it to make life a little better for our people.

In the area of infrastructure, Makinde revealed that the state invested in rebuilding federal roads
, including the Iseyin road, linking the School of Agriculture and College of Natural Resources, to make life easy for the people of the state.

“It took us two years to get the federal government approval. And the road is 34 kilometers. It’s a major link between one zone of the state, Oyo Zone, linking Okeogun Zone. We have five geopolitical zones in Oyo State. We have Ibadan Zone, we have Oyo Zone, Oke Ogun zone, Ibarapa zone, Ogbomoso zone.
So, this is a major link between Oyo Zone, linking Okeogun Zone, and it is also passing through a major agro industrial zone. So, I said to them, we don’t care about whether it’s a federal road, it’s a state road, it’s a local government road, all we want is, we want to expand our economy and we also want our people to pass on a smooth road.

“Whether federal government will fix it or state government or local government, just fix the road. If you stand at the gate house there for maybe 15 minutes, at least you must count close to almost 15, 20 trucks carrying cassava all over the place.

“ They are expanding and we are not waiting for federal government. We know that how to fix this country is to be productive. It is not about federal allocation. It is not about us going cap in hand every four weeks to Abuja to say, give us money. No. We want to be productive.
The people that started this whole thing, they never went anywhere. They were generating their own resources here. And we have enough.”

“We built the road from Iseyin also to Ogbomoso. It is a brand new road. Nothing was in existence in that place before. That is also a major road linking one zone of the state to another zone. It is 76.6 kilometers. It will take you 45 minutes.

“So, from here to Ogbomoso is about one hour. And to Ilorin airport, in Kwara Stare, is one hour 25 minutes. So, even if you fly to Ilorin airport, you still get here in one hour 25 minutes”

“So, but I will say it we want to be remembered, not for roads. We built the airport. We built the local government, or we constructed roads. We want to be remembered for the institutions that we’re trying to build such that good governance will be guaranteed in Oyo State, irrespective of who is coming in. And we are succeeding.

Speaking on insecurity and the link with food security, Makinde said the state is now ready to unveil Amotekun, which was not in existence when he took over the administration.

“ Now, I am wearing Amotekun cap. On Monday, they will graduate the forest rangers so that bandits will never have any foothold in our state. Amotekun wasn’t in existence before we came.

Also speaking on the fight against corruption, he disclosed that the state established “our own anti-corruption agency. We set up our rule of law enforcement authority” to check corruption, including traffic rules violation

“ When you get to Abuja airport road, and you’re driving to town, on the main road, Yar’Adua express, not on the feeder road, but on the main express, you will see people driving against traffic.

“If you’re a foreigner, you’ll say, oh, you want to promote tourism and things like that. Some people will freak out. Just seeing on a major highway, traffic driving against you.

“We think in our state, we will stamp it out. It’s a national menace, but we will stamp it out.

“ So you as opinion molders, as people that will let the world know that this is where we’re going, one takeaway from this engagement is that Nigeria must not slide into a one-party state.

Makinde who noted that when Oyo people took a decision to elect him in In 2019, he did not have godfather, warned that the country must not be allowed to degenerate into a one party state.

“Nobody sponsored me. Nobody gave a dime for us to get in there. But the people of Oyo state decided that they want to give this opportunity to an outsider.

“Before that time, you people say Seyi ,what has he done before? Has he been a counselor? No. Has he been to the State House of Assembly? No. Has he been to House of Reps? No. How about Senate? I tried twice. I was rejected.

No experience in politics, No experience in governance, but I have done well for myself in business. And before that time, the entire Southwest was APC.

“The entire Southwest. All the six states. But Oyo State said, no, we dare to be different. And because I didn’t have no experience, I wanted to convince the people.

“So we produced a document, Roadmap to Accelerate Development of Oyo State 2019 to 2023. And I said to the people, look, this is the black and white, hold me accountable to this.

“ In Nigeria, we have the talents, we have the intellects. Let’s not slide into a one-party state so that we can give others the opportunity so you can showcase what is possible in Nigeria.”