What Makinde must do to succeed as governor – Olunloyo

Tribune Online
What Makinde must do to succeed as governor – Olunloyo

A former governor of old Oyo state, Dr Omololu Olunloyo, has noted that incumbent governor, Mr Seyi Makinde will make a success of his government if he efficiently handles the coalition that brought him to power and accords high priority to the admonition of some experienced and old politicians that make up the coalition.

In what he described as handling a delicate coalition, Olunloyo tasked Makinde to take heed to the counsels of experienced politicians like Senator Rashidi Ladoja and Olufemi Lanlehin above those counsels offered by civil servants who he said were not active players in the realm of politics.

Exemplifying with the Machiavellian principle on good and bad of leadership, Olunloyo said Makinde must also go beyond only being a loved and good man to being determined and feared.

He, however, noted that Makinde ran the risk of being misunderstood and underrated.

Olunloyo who spoke with Tribune Online, after attending a Sufi event held in Ibadan, on Sunday, particularly urged residents of the state to give Makinde the benefit of the doubt because his decisions were likely informed by broader knowledge of happenings in and out of government.

Beyond keeping to campaign promises, Olunloyo avowed that Makinde was at liberty to modify those promises and revise his assessment of government, though this must be informed by the imperativeness of delivering good governance to the people of the state.

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“Every set of politician or political party make promises in their campaigns – what they can do, what they shall do. To be fair to them, the public doesn’t know many of the internal things to that government. They see some external things and they like to do some things about external things.

“Seyi Makinde has attempted a number of times to be governor and he has succeeded at last, delicately with a coalition.

“In the coalition, there are some very experienced and old politicians like Senator Rashidi Ladoja and Senator Olufemi Lanlehin. If he handles the coalition very well and listens to them very well and not to civil servants who have never been in politics, he will succeed.

“He is a very good man in that he has been doing a lot of philanthropy long before now and silent philanthropy which he does not advertise.

“A good man may not be a good governor. Makinde is not only a good man but he is determined and I think, he can be misunderstood and underrated.

“He is capable of doing some hard and harsh things. But, like Machiavelli, he says it will be good if a ruler can be loved and feared. He adds that since it is not possible to be loved and feared, it is better for a ruler to be feared than to be loved.

“Everybody has the promises they make; when they come in, they have a right to revise their assessment.

“For example, last week, Makinde said something about the great Circular road and that they were pursuing in a very tardy manner. That is not the only thing about the great Circular road.

“Is it really something of great priority? A government has very many departments- establishment, salary and pensions, education, health, social services and so on,” Olunloyo said.

What Makinde must do to succeed as governor – Olunloyo
Tribune Online