Oyo Lucky To Have Makinde As Governor-Ali Ndume •Makinde Urges Politicians To Bury Their Differences
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, Senator Ali Ndume, has declared that the people of Oyo State are lucky to have Engineer ‘Seyi Makinde as their governor and leader.
He said this when he lead other members of the Senate Committee on a courtesy visit to the governor in his office, after an oversight visit to the 2 Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, Ibadan.
Other senators on the courtesy visit included Kola Balogun (Oyo South); Abdulfatai Buhari (Oyo North); Olubunmi Adetunmbi (Ekiti North); Hassan Mohammed Gusau (Zamfara Central); Yakubu Oseni (Logo Central); Lawali Hassan Anka (Zamfara West); and Bulus Amos (Gombe South).
Senator Ndume, lauded Governor Makinde for providing basic and social amenities, such as street lights to military barracks in the state and also commended him for the tremendous changes the state has witnessed within a short period of time.
“We are here on an oversight visit and we want to inform you that the Senate Committee has seen what you are doing to complement the effort of the Nigerian Air Force.
“So, we want to commend you for that. As we moved around to supervise some of the projects they were doing in the barracks, the GOC told us that, as part of your effort to light up Ibadan, you included the streets around them in the project. This is very commendable.
“I also personally want to tell you here that the people of Oyo State are very lucky to have you as a leader at this material time,” Ndume said.
In his response, Governor Seyi Makinde urged politicians to shun politics of bitterness and admonished them to bury their political differences and maintain unity of purpose for the progress of the country.
The governor further stated that Nigerians need to keep talking to each other and put the national interest first at this period.
Makinde said national peace is paramount at this period, noting that there is the need for all politicians, irrespective of their political affiliations, to work together for the progress of the nation.
Speaking on the state of security in the country, Governor Makinde said Oyo State would always be accommodating to all ethnic groups, except criminals and disgruntled elements among them.
He also commended the efforts of the Nigerian security agencies in combating crimes across the geopolitical zones of the county.
Makinde said: “I want to welcome you to Ibadan. Quite frankly, for us, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not the issue.
“The issue for us is development for our people and we need to work together to see that we have development in our state.
“We know the government, either APC or PDP, will come and go but our state will remain. When we are done, the people coming will take up whatever we are able to achieve.
“Also for our military men, the best we can do is to support them. They are all over the place trying to keep us safe. What we are saying is, we are in a very challenging period and we have economic issues as well.
“The only thing we can do is to rally round and give them support so that when they are in faraway places, they will know that their families left at home are receiving attention.
“Also for us here in Oyo State, we don’t stereotype. We work with the Army and other security agencies. We are only after criminals. We don’t care whether they are Yorubas or Fulanis or Igbos. Wherever we identify criminals, we go after them.
“I also want to thank you for the work you are doing on behalf of us and be sure that you will always have our cooperation and support from Oyo State.”
