ONE YEAR IN OFFICE: My Relationship With Gov. Makinde Cordial – Deputy Gov

Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Engineer Rauf Olaniyan, has put to rest the speculations of rift between him and Governor of the state, Engineer Seyi Makinde.

Olaniyan, who described the relations between him and his boss as cordial, said that he has chosen to disregard all those who want to cause disaffection and rancor between them.

The Deputy Governor spoke during a chat with journalists in the state, who were at his residence to celebrate Sallah with him.

Speaking on achievements of the administration, which would be a year in days, the Deputy Governor noted that there is no need to begin to banter figures or trade words with those who don’t believe in the modest achievements of the Makinde-led administration.

He added, "But for the novel pandemic which is slowing things down across the world, various innovations and efforts in the areas of education, agriculture, infrastructure and health among others would have been more obvious even for the blind to see."

Olaniyan said: “For the one year in office, if the APC says we are not doing anything, fine. Let it be. The Yoruba has a saying that you can never impress your haters. But the good people of Oyo state know that we are doing something."

“When you are trying to reset an already battered economy, battered administration and everything battered, when you are trying to reset, it is not just as you get there that you start the movement."

“There are a lot of things going on now, if not for Coronavirus, if our schools are to be up and running, as it is supposed to run, this year WAEC and JAMB, you would have seen that we are doing something. Those areas are not things you can easily see because they are intangible, at least for a while."

“If I start planning on education now, before you can see the effect, it might take sometime. I can assure you that we are doing something. Even go to Agric, many things are not seen and they can not be seen on the pages of newspapers. Whoever is saying that we are not doing anything will wait till when he will see it, but we are doing a whole lot. There are a lot of innovations."

“If you come to security, there are innovations. When they say we are not doing anything, we are doing something.”

When asked about insinuations that his experience in public service was causing issues with some people in the Makinde government, Olaniyan said that he doesn’t see the need for such.

“The relationship between myself and the governor is very cordial. But, if some people somewhere feel threatened or afraid, which I don’t even see any reason for that, that is best known to such people."

“But, to the best of my knowledge, Seyi Makinde is the Governor of Oyo state and Remi Olaniyan is the Deputy Governor of Oyo State."

“On my last birthday, the card Governor Makinde gave me had the inscription, ‘My Co-Pilot’, and that is it. Believe me, anybody can say whatever they like. Even at the national level, it does happen."

“At a time, they were saying that, President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo are not together. In our state, they said Seyi Makinde is not carrying along his deputy governor in governance."

“At a point, people said that I should denounce it and call a press conference to talk about it but I told them that I am not going to do that. I told them that, when they were accusing Buhari on his relationship with Osinbajo, I asked, did anyone ever see or hear Osinbajo call a press conference to denounce such?".

He added: “Somebody told me that the rumour can be from our party, PDP and I told him that it could also be from the opposition APC. Or even from an insider. If Seyi Makinde gives me an assignment as his deputy and I didn’t carry it out, then one can say that we are not on the same page, but as the deputy governor, it is only when the governor is not there that I can be there on his directive."

“Governance is not a straight jacket thing like people think. Everywhere all other the world you find people who want to cause disaffection. They can be here too, but as far as I am concerned, I drew up an equation and equate them to zero as not existing."

“To the best of my knowledge, we have the Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde and myself as the deputy governor. I don’t know of any other person. So, if they are existing, and their existence will continue to cause commotion, why can’t we take them as non-existing. But, we don’t have problem between ourselves."

“People should just take things easy. And all these things are happening because there is no fund. Because the little funds we have is being competed for by so many heads. You couldn’t even imagine how we are managing to pay salary, so please bear with us."

“Those by the corner causing trouble, that’s their own work. Let them be, but we thank God that they cannot destabilise us.”