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

Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, has lamented that certain policies of the current administration are being implemented despite their pitfalls because it has become difficult to  speak truth to people in power in the country.

Makinde, who stated this during the 60th birthday celebration of the president of The Men of Issachar Vision Incorporated (MIV), Samson Ajetomobi, said he misses former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s leadership.

Looking in the direction of Osinbajo, who was also in attendance, he said, “Sir, I personally miss you in that position (as vice president).

“A lot of people may not know why things are not really the same. It’s not a political talk because I’m not on that podium,” Makinde told Osinbajo.

Makinde recalled how Osinbajo’s decision prevented him from locking Oyo State down during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I remember I was barely seven months into the position of the governor of Oyo State, and that was my very first public service job. And we had a crisis in the country; this was February 2020.

“There was COVID, and we came in for the National Economic Council meeting. It was a hot meeting; the council chairman (Osinbajo) came in, along with a few of my colleagues.

“I wasn’t sure whether they held a meeting before that meeting, but they came in and said we should all go back and lock down our state.

“So, for Oyo State people, why I did not lock down during COVID was because of his decision,” he added

Makinde contrasted this ease of decision with President Bola Tinubu’s refusal to withdraw the tax bill, criticising the administration’s handling of the matter.

“But we had the same situation in this dispensation; it was the tax bill, and we said, ‘Look, bring the tax bill; bring it 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,” the governor said.

It would be recalled that Makinde has long opposed Tinubu’s tax reforms.

In fact, Last September, the governor declined to assent to the bill after it passed the state assembly, insisting that it would impose additional burdens on the poor who were already struggling due to the country’s current economic reality.