To read Seyi Bakare’s spirited defence of Governor Dapo Abiodun, a reaction to our editorial, “Governor Dapo Abiodun and His Greek Gift”, is to witness a valiant, if tragically flawed, act of political alchemy. With the fervent brushstrokes of a court painter tasked with gilding a crumbling statue, Bakare attempts to launder not just an image, but an entire questionable legacy. His piece is a masterclass in deflection, a symphony played expertly around the gaping holes in the score. The people of Ogun State, however, are wiser. They have learned to look beyond empty rhetoric and political theatrics, to scrutinise not what is said for political convenience, but what is actually done. Too often, they find a troubling variance between word and deed, a pattern that gives credence to the sobering reality that many in power are not people of their word.
Let us be clear from the onset: the core issue is not about a governor’s generosity. It is about constitutional compliance, fiscal transparency, and the blatant subversion of a national reform agenda. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s historic push for local government autonomy, crystallised in the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment of July 11, 2024, was not a polite suggestion. It was a judicial command, interpreting Sections 162(5)-162(8) of the 1999 Constitution to mandate direct federal allocations to the 774 LGs, bypassing the chokehold of state joint accounts. The aim was simple: to empower the tier of government closest to the people to build health centres, roads, and schools, not to furnish convoys.
Yet, in Ogun State, while the President thundered at the APC NEC meeting in December 2025, threatening executive orders to force compliance, his own party’s governor was orchestrating a Christmas Eve spectacle. The presentation of 20 brand-new SUVs was a calculated Greek gift. While some defenders have rushed to argue that “other governors did the same,” this line of reasoning only indicts further. It reveals a bandwagon mentality, a leader devoid of the independent will to stand aright, even if it means standing alone. Following a parade of poor precedents is not the character of a distinct or principled leader; it is the hallmark of a follower in chief’s clothing. The estimated cost for such a fleet of high-end vehicles runs into billions of Naira; a conservative estimate places it at approximately ₦3.4 billion. This exorbitant sum raises critical, unanswered questions Bakare conveniently ignores:
1. From which treasury was this colossal sum drawn? Was it from the State’s coffers or from the Local Government allocations the Supreme Court said must flow directly and intact?
2. In which publicly accessible budget was this expenditure itemised and approved? Or does the Governor operate a discretionary fund beyond public scrutiny?
3. Where is the greater need? Does a chairman need a luxury SUV more than the autonomy to fix the primary healthcare centre in his ward? Could an estimated ₦3.4 billion not have built schools, equipped clinics, or paved community roads?
Governor Abiodun’s leadership style, as evidenced here and in myriad other instances, is shrouded in a profound opacity. This is an administration that treats Freedom of Information requests probing its expenditure like irritating flies to be swatted away. Controversies follow him like the Harmattan dust, persistent, pervasive, and clouding clear vision. The Federal Government, in a spirit of collaboration, even granted a three-month moratorium in August 2024 for states to prepare via elections and adjustments. By December 2025, Tinubu’s threat of an executive order signalled the exhaustion of patience, emphasising enforcement over collaboration. The framework is clear: INEC-conducted elections for democratically accountable councils, direct payments from FAAC, and state oversight restricted to administrative matters, not financial strangulation.
The chorus of concern from citizens and observers is deafening, yet is met only with dismissive rage and elaborate rebuttals, never with transparent accounting. “Olowo kan kì í f’owó kan j’ogun,” the Yoruba wisely say, one hand cannot tie a bundle. True development requires the collective, accountable effort of autonomous entities, not the solitary, opaque generosity of an overlord. The citizen’s poignant testimony about Ikenne Local Government is the human face of this systemic failure. It is the story of allocations received and development invisible, of a chairman rendered an “effigy” in a system designed for dependence. The plea is not for calumny but for clarity: “Release facts and figures.”
Therefore, this is a call to look past the gleam of the SUVs, the “metallic paint catching the light like promises wrapped in cellophane.” Look instead to the unpaved roads, the under-equipped schools, and the health centres running on hope. Seyi Bakare’s elaborate defence is but a glittering shroud over the carcass of accountability. The people of Ogun State do not need alibis for their governor; they need answers. They do not need luxury vehicles as tokens of their subjugation; they need the full, unimpeded financial autonomy the Supreme Court has decreed and their President is fighting for.
Until Governor Abiodun’s administration opens its books, conducts transparent LG elections, and allows funds to flow directly as mandated, every gift, however gleaming, will remain nothing more than a very expensive distraction from a very profound betrayal. The time for performance art is over. The hour for constitutional compliance is now!!!
