Former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola has asked God for forgiveness for being part of those who saw to the election of President Mohammadu Buhari as president.
Oyinlola made the confession in a recent interview with BBC Yoruba.
The former governor said in the interview monitored by Church Times that none of the promises the present government made has been fulfilled.
He said, “I took part in the process that brought President Buhari to power. The promises we made were many. But none of the promises to my knowledge have been fulfilled.”
One of the promises the government made according to him, was the security of lives. “That has not been fulfilled. We all had thought that Buhari, being a former military head of state would have no issues silencing Boko Haram. We thought under six months, Boko Haram would have been confined to history. But that is not what we are experiencing,” he said.
While recalling that former President Olusegun Obasanjo had expressed reservation about the competence of Buhari, Oyinlola said, “May God forgive us because we never thought things will be this bad.”
He said the security situation has become so frightening that parents now exercise caution about sending their children to school. “On a daily basis, you read stories of kidnapping, killings, and banditry. Apart from the civil war, Nigeria has not experienced the kind of bloodletting that we are experiencing. It is frightening,” he said.
Oyinlola: Buhari promised to restructure
Oyinlola; also, a one-time military administrator of Lagos State said further that Buhari had promised the South West that he would carry out restructuring when he comes to power.
He said however that he was shocked when the President told newsmen that he didn’t know what restructuring was all about.
“I was surprised when he said he did not know anything about restructuring. Before the military took over power in the first republic, we operated a true federal structure where the regions were independent of the Federal. The regions were able to grow at their own pace. If not for the true federal system of government in the first republic, the Western Region under Chief Obafemi Awolowo would not have been able to execute free education successfully. All the regions were doing well. They only needed to pay something to the centre while they control their resources.” He said.
He said people are clamouring for restructuring because there are obvious cases of nepotism by the present government. “We have a situation where a particular tribe is being favoured by the government. This is not acceptable.”