Makinde made the remarks on Saturday while speaking at a public event where Osinbajo was present, declaring openly that governance and decision-making under the present dispensation had worsened compared to when Osinbajo served as Vice President.
Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s administration, saying dissenting voices are no longer tolerated, as he lamented the absence of former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo from the centre of power.
Makinde made the remarks on Saturday while speaking at a public event where Osinbajo was present, declaring openly that governance and decision-making under the present dispensation had worsened compared to when Osinbajo served as Vice President.
“Sir, I personally miss you in that position. A lot of people may not know why. Things are not really the same,” Makinde said.
The governor stressed that his comments were not politically motivated, noting that he was not speaking from a partisan platform. He recalled his early days in office during the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, when he had just assumed office as governor.
According to Makinde, a National Economic Council (NEC) meeting held in February 2020, at the height of the pandemic, was decisive in shaping his administration’s response to COVID-19.
“We had a crisis in the country. This was February 2020. There was COVID. We came in for the National Economic Council meeting. It was a hot meeting,” he said.
Makinde explained that some governors had pushed for an immediate nationwide lockdown, but Osinbajo, who chaired the council at the time, allowed room for debate and dissenting views.
“They came in and said, ‘Look, we should all go back and lock down our states.’ So for your state people, why I did not lock down during COVID was because of his decision,” Makinde stated.
The Oyo governor contrasted that experience with what he described as the handling of the controversial tax reform bill under the current administration, alleging that governors’ concerns were ignored.
“We had the same situation in this dispensation. It was the tax bill. And we said, look, bring the tax bill back. Let us all have an opportunity to look dispassionately at it,” he said.
He alleged that objections raised by governors were dismissed and described the response from the Federal Government as intolerant of dissent.
“And we know where we are right now. The tax bill, we don’t know what was passed at the National Assembly. We don’t also know what was signed off,” he added.
“You cannot speak truth to power in this dispensation. He said the tax bill will go ahead. It was even seen as an affront for governors to be saying what the presidency has done by sending the tax bill to the National Assembly… They should bring it back. It won’t happen,” Makinde stated.
The Oyo governor said the outcome of the process remains unclear to stakeholders.