The All Progressives Congress (APC) has criticised Governor Seyi Makinde over his comment at the opposition parties’ summit, describing it as inciting.
Makinde had, during the National Summit of All Opposition Political Party Leaders, referenced the “Operation Wetie” violence that rocked the South-West region in the 1960s, cautioning against a one-party state.
But the APC national spokesman, Felix Morka, faulted the governor for the remark, labelling it as “disgraceful”.
“So, for a sitting governor, who constitutionally is actually the chief security officer of Oyo State, to bandy around this threat, that is really disgraceful. I think Governor Makinde should be ashamed of himself, quite frankly, because it’s wrong for him to do that,” Morka said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
“People in leadership bear exceptional responsibility to speak with restraint, with decorum, and with some sensibility. You don’t sit there as governor, wield enormous authority, and incite people who are beneath you to violence. That is not democratic. That is completely anti-democratic.”
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The “Operation Wetie” was a period of political tension in the South-West region, especially in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Gotten from a Yoruba expression meaning “wet him”, the “Operation Wetie” was a strategy where political opponents, their houses, and properties were doused with petrol and set on fire.
The operation came after the disputed western region elections of 1965, which critics alleged were rigged in favour of the ruling party.
At the summit, Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had warned, “For those that are carrying on as if there’s no tomorrow.
“They should remember that ‘Operation Wetie’ started from here. This is the same Wild Wild West.”
‘Danger Signals’
Though the governor has come under fire from the ruling party, a chieftain of the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), Ladan Salihu, has defended Makinde’s remark.
Appearing on the same show, Salihu said Makinde’s comment reflected happenings in the country.
“What Governor Makinde just did was to drop a warning. When you take the historical perspective of ‘Operation Wetie’ and contextualise it with what is happening today, there are salient signs. There are danger signals that will make you want to pray and hope that we are not on that path,” the ADC chieftain said.
“We are on the amber light; we are approaching the danger signals. What he is saying, in essence, is to make sure the APC government and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu sober up and reflect on the future of Nigeria—on the issues we have on the ground that are now heating up: insecurity, a terrible economy, misgovernance, and what have you.
“If we do not take care of these problems, we are likely to fall into them. He is just giving a kind of wake-up call, and then the minders go all over the place.”
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