Notwithstanding Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde’s advertised accomplishments from May 29, 2019, he has not shown sufficient evidence of his attention to and care for hygiene of his statutorily immediate environment.
Six years in the office, he watches the Government House, which stands magisterially on the hill of Agodi and enjoys a panoramic view of brown roofs of Ibadan, turning to a museum article and a tourist destination where history of the defunct Western Region is virtually accessed.
Save for the inscription on the main entrance landmark, a first time visitor to Ibadan, passing through the frontage of the Government House, would not believe or would, better still, spit at the place which had accommodated the late Premier Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Ladoke Akintola, Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, Colonel Adeyinka Adebayo, Colonel Oluwole Rotimi, Colonel David Jemibewon, Colonel Paul Tarfa, Chief Bola Ige, Dr Omololu Olunloyo, Colonel Oladayo Popoola, Colonel Tunji Olurin, Colonel Sasaeniyan Oresanya, Colonel AbdulKareem Adisa, Chief Kolapo Isola, Navy Captain Adesoye Sode, Colonel Chinyere Nwosu, Colonel Ahmed Usman, CP Amen Oyakhire, Alhaji Lam Adesina, Oba Rasidi Ladoja, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala and Senator Abiola Ajimobi.
If another inquisitive visitor has the luxury of entering that large hilly surface and behold the degree of rot that shares presence with government officials who report their day and night, he would return home to tell story of how insensitive Makinde and his admnistration has been to that imposing and once prestigious heritage.
If the visitor is lucky to escape the eagle-eye security guards stationed at the entrance and operating under a strong instruction to ward off ‘intruders’ and make it into the heart of the premises, state of the Church and the Mosque sitting beside each other on the left side, will tell him full tale of the eyesore awaiting him in other units of buildings that make up the Oyo State Government House, where policies that earned the South-West the nation’s pace-setter region, were approved for implementation.
Having seen the two religious houses in that deteriorating state of cry, the visitor does not need to subject himself to pains of touring the facilities to see other remnants to which the Government House has been reduced under the watch of Makinde who has won shields of “governors of the year” on the strength of his verifiable feats in physical development, education, health sector and other areas.
The fence, the layouts, the reception, the clinic, the chalets, staff quarters and the Presidential Lodge that has since hosted former presidents, are an insult to eyes and a bad publicity for the administration.
TheTabloid.net gathered that the governor inherited the dirty, smelling Government House upon his assumption of duty but decided to keep a loud distance from it for reasons best known to him and his advisers, especially officials of the Ministry of Work saddled with responsibilities of evaluating the cost of retrieving it from this degeneration.
A retired public servant, who didn’t want his name in print, is livid and unpersuaded, describing governors, who abandoned the Government House, as prodigal successors of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, whom, he said, was the architect of that prestigious edifice that was once an envy to other regions before and after independence in October 1960.
The Ogun State-born Octogenarian, who claimed to have been familiar with the Government House during his service, reasoned that Awolowo would not forgive his successors who watched the House to decay to the embarrassment it has become in the eyes of the world.
“I am very sure that Baba Awolowo, who constructed the Government House, is not happy with what it has become. Quality work went into the construction. All our governors require to do is to maintain it by changing the paint and worn out interior items,” he lamented.
It was learnt that even the four-floor Buckingham Palace, the royal residence in Westminster, London, opened in 1705, still looks as though it was commissioned yesterday.
Now, the governor has risen from a protracted sleep, showing commitment to rehabilitate the destiny of the House.
“On June 18, 2025, the state Executive Council approved a sum of N63, 479, 858, 000 for the overhaul of the Government House structures,” Mr Olaoluwa Mimiola, a media practitioner, said and acknowledged opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) spontaneous chorus against the amount, arguing that there are other essential projects on which the governor should spend such fund.
Through his Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr Dotun Oyelade, the unmoved governor, however, gave a detailed account of the project with a clarification that it is redevelopment, not renovation of the House, and 21 structures would be touched.
“The new building will also accommodate a helipad to allow VIP visitors including the Presidency, fellow governors, important dignitaries and the host governor himself to commute seamlessly to and from their destinations in helicopter,” Oyelade explained.
The commissioner promised that the ongoing redevelopment work would be completed to mark the 50th anniversary of the creation of Oyo State scheduled for February 2026.
Oyo State was created from the defunct Western State alongside Ogun and Ondo States on February 3, 1976 by the military regime of the late Head of State, Lt General Murtala Ramat Muhammed, who incidentally was assassinated on his way to his office in Lagos about 10 days after.
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