Akesan Market Inferno And Makinde’s Pretentious Welfarism

BY BABAJIDE FADOJU

Two tragic events readily come to mind as we are still bemoaning the havoc that the inferno at Akesan Market in Oyo wreaked on lives and property last week.

The two tragic events occurred during the administration of Senator Abiola Ajimobi.

The first tragic event was the fire outbreak at the popular Alesinloye Market on Friday, 15th August, 2014. The second tragic event occurred on 17th December, 2016 when early morning fire ravaged a part of Araromi Market, Agodi Gate, Ibadan.

When the two tragic events occurred, though at separate period, Governor Seyi Makinde, who was in the opposition then, was the earliest caller at the places in an attempt to give the impression of a compassionate politician and to paint the then reigning administration of Senator Abiola Ajimobi as insensitive to the plights of the traders who lost goods worth hundreds of millions of naira to the infernos.

On those two tragic occasions, however, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, as the governor then, mobilised his officials to ensure that the traders affected by the infernos were adequately compensated, a praiseworthy act for which the traders showed eternal gratefulness.

Meanwhile, as the current governor of Oyo state, Governor Seyi Makinde has begun to show his real nature as he no longer finds it compassionate to visit scenes of accidental tragedies.

Just last weekend, a part of the popular Akesan Market in Oyo town experienced fire outbreak in which goods and property worth hundreds of millions of naira were destroyed.

As we speak, Governor Makinde has not visited the market to commiserate with the victims and to assess the extent of damage.

His officials who had visited the market only embarked on the blame game of how the fire service in the state was in tatters due to the neglect by the previous administration.

But on Monday, 6th of January, Senator Abiola Ajimobi visited Oyo to commiserate with the Alaafin and the people of Oyo town over the unfortunate incident.

The former governor promised to assist in the rebuilding of the Akesan Market.

As for Governor Makinde and his officials, they fail to accept that there was prompt response to fire outbreaks during the tenure of Senator Abiola Ajimobi as the extent of damage recorded during those two fire incidents mentioned above was little compared to the huge destruction that the inferno wrought on Akesan Market.

A good government would accept responsibility for the inability of the fire service to respond promptly to the distress calls about the fire outbreak rather than give lame excuse that it was in government for only seven months.

What has been revealed so far about Governor Makinde is that he never prepared for governance; what he prepared for was deploying his propaganda machinery to be able to become the governor!

It’s glaring that Governor SMakinde does not have a written blueprint on how he intended to move the state forward.

What we have seen so far is the deployment of fire brigade approach to tackling issues of governance in the state as they rear their heads. From making decisions to rescinding them almost weekly.

We advise Governor Makinde to take the issues of governance seriously and desist from his petty populist activities as he still has over three years to make whatever positive difference he wishes to make before he is voted out of office come 2023 by the only progressive party in the country, APC.

Fadoju was a Senior Special Assistant on New Media to former Oyo State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi