EXPOSED: How Makinde’s Clandestine Plot To Attack APC Presidential Rally Would Have Set Ibadan On Fire!

By Engr. Rasaq Bello

In the early hour of Monday, 6th February 2023, some groups of ragtag students converged at the University of Ibadan main gate to embark on what they described as a peaceful demonstration against the biting economic hardship. The students who are also joined by some known political ruffians had one simple but equally destructive motive in mind: to create chaos that will frustrate APC to shelve her Presidential campaign rally. While the short-lived protest or demonstration was on, vehicular movement around UI became grounded and caused fear, panic, and apprehension.

Commuters who had watched in horror the destruction of some bank’s facilities last week Friday knew there might be fire on the mountain if care is not taken. Fortunately, men of the Nigerian Army, Adekunle Fajuyi’s cantonment quickly and swiftly came to the rescue and restored law, order, and normalcy to the place.

But perhaps, the choice of the University of Ibadan main gate by the protesters is instructive. For a long time, that venue has always been one of Ibadan’s melting pots and the epicenter of civil unrest. Apart from the wide media coverage that the university enjoyed, the gate also served as a great nexus between those coming from other parts of the state into the belly of the city. Given the strategic advantage of that place, any protest will simply and definitely catch fire and send a chill down the spines of those in authority and the masses. But yesterday’s protest was far from a genuine reaction to the ongoing crisis in the country. It was a carefully planned and well-orchestrated arrangement to send shockwaves across the land. As details continued to emerge as to the clandestine attempt to set the state on fire ahead of the now postponed APC Presidential rally slated for Tuesday 7th Feb 2023, only one man appears behind it all.

Details of the aborted protest and demonstration point to Governor Seyi Makinde as the main architect of the plot. Insider hints revealed that the Governor alongside his de facto deputy, Seye Famojuro had sent Victor Olojede. S.A. on student affairs to organize and stage a protest on behalf of the people of the state. To cover logistics and other expenses, a whooping 5 million naira was released to carry out the hatchet plan. With the money in hand, Olojede quickly contacted other student leaders, especially those from the University of Ibadan who are sympathetic to Makinde’s cause on how to go about the exercise. He and others perfected plans to warm up the city with earth-shaken demonstrations. The simple logic was that once Ibadan is caught in the web of the crisis on Monday, the confidence of APC going about their rally on Tuesday would surely and certainly tank. In other words, the success of that protest would have sent a strong signal to the party’s stakeholders about the chances of having a peaceful rally.

As it has been customary of the Governor, latching onto people’s growing disaffection and displeasure has always been one of his tactics to score cheap political points.

He did that during the botched #ENDSARS protest. He was visibly present to give moral, political and perhaps financial support to the destructive protesters. With that kind of executive rascality, the rampaging protesters went about burning police stations and killing police officers. They destroyed and looted properties knowing that they are protected by the Governor’s immunity clause! While other leaders do embark on a soul-searching mission when a crisis unfolds, Governor Makinde’s main motivation has always been about how to harness and exploit people’s vulnerability to his advantage. Observers believe that Makinde’s overt and covert support for #ENDSARS emboldens the demonstrators to the point of madness. They said his open support and backing and endorsement gave them the rare courage and conviction to carry out their heinous crime against humanity.

Unsurprisingly that Governor Makinde was the only one in the whole country to have given a statewide broadcast to the people of the state in the wake of the ongoing crisis. One might want to know the rationale behind that kind of needless broadcast: is it to exonerate the contribution of his government from the sufferings and hardships in the land, knowing full well that state governments are not innocent in this kind of matter. On the surface, Makinde’s statewide broadcast appears noble and well-intentioned. But on a deeper level, it is just a smokescreen, an attempt to curry the favor of the public and attract undue sympathy for a failing political machinery. Many in the state believe that the dwindling fortune of Governor Makinde’s re-election bid might be one reason he is so desperate to go any length in search of redemption.

Consequently, the growing popularity of the APC has continued to unsettle his camp. Makinde is ranked by the acceptability of APC in the state. He is troubled and worried that Oyo APC has the strength to rally other lesser parties to its side and pummel him in the next poll. He is said to be jittery and believed the party’s Presidential rally might be the last straw that will break the back of his re-election bid. His popularity among civil servants has plummeted. Just a few weeks ago, Oyo NLC promised fire and brim storm against the state government over certain entitlements. The light-up Oyo project is dead on arrival. Free education is in shamble. Fifth columnists are battle ready to pound on his flesh for opposing Atiku Abubakar. The challenges before the Governor are overwhelming and one must not be surprised that he is desperately looking for a way out of his self-inflicted rabbit hole. Similarly, reports also indicated that boys loyal to Park Management System chairman, Mukaila Lamidi in collaboration with some Niger Delta trouble makers have also concluded arrangements on how to attack APC members coming from another part of the state as well.

But now that the rally is postponed, GSM and his gangs of tormentors will go back to the drawing board and plan ahead of their imminent defeat at the poll.