The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, has said he holds no grudge against Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde.
The suspicion of grudge followed the recent siting of the Police Mobile Squadron at Ago-Are, with insinuations that the monarch was the one who facilitated the police unit for Oyo town, but it was hijacked and sited elsewhere by the governor.
The monarch, hosting the governor yesterday, who was in Oyo to inaugurate projects as parts of activities to commemorate his first year anniversary in office, noted that if he had any ill-feelings towards the governor, he would have walked up to him or write him to say so.
Alaafin said: “If one lives in the palace with all manners of people cohabiting with you there for about 50 years, such a person should be sensible.
“If you live and interact with people in authority, we are not people who confront those placed in position of authority by God. We don’t insult or embarrass them.
“There is no quarrel between the governor and I. We understand. I have interacted with people in position of authority in the past, especially those very difficult to interact with.
“When there is a person who is endowed with wisdom and well read, such a person will be wise when dealing with people in position of authority.
“Concerning what transpired recently, I will also talk about it. I won’t deny it, but there is nothing that the governor has done. If I bear grudge against him, I would have written a letter to him and explain, but I don’t hold any grudge against him.
“On the issue of location, if they say it’s for Oyo town, but you say you want it somewhere else instead of Oyo town, we welcome it. There is no quarrel. We agree with whatever the government does.
“My people, this governor, you can interact with him. There is a covenant between Governor Makinde and I that is more than all that had happened. Our covenant is that he approached me that he wanted to be the governor back then and I told him that it was not yet time. That he would only waste his money.”
“When there was another opportunity, he came back and it was indeed the time for him to be and he is a good person. So, I am not nursing any grudge against him. If I have any, I am bold enough to approach him and tell him.”
Governor Makinde had apologised for the unscheduled visit to the palace, telling the monarch that he was in the town to inaugurate the renovated primary health centre and the 40-bed isolation centre in Awe.
He said he would have visited the palace earlier when he saw the letters he wrote to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) on the request for the Police Mobile Squadron, but that he had no hint or knowledge of the request when he made the same request last year when he visited the IGP.
He said from the point of requesting, he had made up his mind to locate the Police Mobile Squadron at Ago-Are, a boundary town, which is also centrally located, to help address insecurity in the state.
Makinde cautioned those he described as rumour mongers and those seeking to cause ill-feelings between him and the Alaafin of Oyo to desist.
