Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo, says he misses former Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo’s leadership.
Makinde spoke on Saturday at the 60th birthday celebration of Samson Ajetomobi, president of The Men of Issachar Vision Incorporated (MIV) and overseer of the Redemption Faith Churches, in Ibadan, Oyo state capital, where Osinbajo was also in attendance.
“Sir, I personally miss you in that position (as vice president),” Makinde told Osinbajo.
“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 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,” the governor said.
“There was Covid, and we came in for the national economic council meeting. It was a hot meeting; the chairman of the council (Osinbajo) came in and 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.”
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.”
Makinde has long opposed Tinubu’s tax reforms.
Last September, the governor declined assent to the bill after passage by the state assembly, insisting that it would impose additional burdens on the poor who were already struggling due to the current economic reality in the country.
