Oyo Kidnappings: Not Time to Blame Me or Tinubu, Don’t Politicise Tragedy – Gov Makinde

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has expressed distress over the recent kidnapping of students and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area, urging Nigerians to unite against insecurity rather than trade political blame.

The governor spoke during a peaceful protest led by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC), and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) at his office in Ibadan on Tuesday.

“This is a time of national distress. It is not the time to trade blames. It is not the time to play politics. I am personally distressed,” Makinde said.

He noted that his own father was a primary school teacher who taught less than 15 kilometres from where the kidnapping occurred in 1959 and 1960.

“If something like this had happened to him, maybe I wouldn’t even have been born,” he said.

Makinde stressed that the challenge of insecurity requires a united response, adding that finger-pointing would not solve the problem.

“This is not the time for us to say it is the President that should have handled this, or it is the Governor, or the local government. This is a time to pull together as one,” he said.

Sources: Daily Post