‘Fix Oyo First’ – Presidency Tackles Makinde Over Attack on Tinubu

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde

‘Fix Oyo First’ – Presidency Tackles Makinde Over Attack on Tinubu

ABUJA, Nigeria – The Nigerian Presidency has fired back at Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde following his criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s administration regarding the proposed implementation of state police, telling the governor to “fix Oyo first” before lecturing the federal government on security matters. The presidency’s response was contained in a statement on Friday by the President’s Special Adviser on Social Media, Dada Olusegun, who accused Governor Makinde of using the federal government as a scapegoat to deflect from the rising insecurity and underfunding plaguing his own state. The exchange marks the latest escalation in a war of words between the Tinubu administration and the Oyo governor, who formally declared his intention to contest the 2027 presidential election just one day before his criticism of the President.

Recall that on Thursday, Governor Seyi Makinde urged the federal government to stop deceiving Nigerians over the creation of state police. He insisted that state governments already possess the power to establish their own policing structures through local legislation. Makinde made the assertions during the governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives, and House of Assembly primaries of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) held at the Watershed Celebration Centre in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. Addressing party members and delegates at the event, the governor reflected on the establishment of the Western Nigeria Security Network, codenamed Amotekun, across the South-west, describing the outfit as a fallback option after initial efforts to establish state police failed. According to him, the regional security outfit was created by South-west states through laws passed by their respective Houses of Assembly—a legislative process he argued could also be adopted for establishing full state police.

“Some people will know insecurity was one of the major pillars of this administration when we established Omitutun phase one and phase two, and it will remain a major pillar. Before this government’s emergence, there was nothing like Amotekun in Oyo State. We wanted state police. It was because we couldn’t get the state police that we established Amotekun as a stopgap. They should stop wasting Nigerians’ time,” Governor Makinde stated. “We know how we established Amotekun. The Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly is here. We passed a common law in the whole of the Southwest. The whole Houses of Assembly in all states in the Southwest passed the law, and that led to the creation of Amotekun. The only state that didn’t create Amotekun is Lagos State, and we know it is because their boss didn’t want Amotekun,” he said.

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Governor Makinde’s renewed call for state police comes in the wake of a major security crisis in Oyo State. On May 15, 2026, gunmen invaded three schools in Esiele Community, Oriire Local Government Area, abducting seven teachers and 39 students from Community Grammar School, Baptist Nursery and Primary School, and L.A. Primary School. During the attack, a mathematics teacher was beheaded by the gunmen, while a motorcyclist and a security personnel also lost their lives. The Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, subsequently visited the affected communities and ordered intensified rescue operations.

Replying via a post on his X handle, presidential aide Dada Olusegun accused Governor Makinde of playing politics with the challenges of insecurity, describing his outburst as “a masterclass in deflection.” Olusegun wrote: “Gov. Seyi Makinde’s recent outburst accusing President Tinubu of ‘wasting time’ on State Police and claiming Lagos boycotted Amotekun for political points is just a masterclass in deflection. When a Governor is grappling with rising insecurity in his own state, the instinct to scapegoat the center is predictable.” He denied Makinde’s claim that Lagos boycotted Amotekun due to Tinubu’s influence, stating it is “entirely false,” adding that President Tinubu was himself “one of the voices that clamoured for a local security network to aid the federal efforts on Security.”

The presidential aide then turned his attention to the operational challenges facing Amotekun in Oyo State. “Makinde praises Amotekun as his glorious ‘stop-gap,’ yet the reality in Oyo is tragic underfunding. While Lagos mobilizes billions for the welfare and resources of all security apparatus in Lagos state, Oyo sends brave Amotekun operatives into forests with pump-action rifles to fight AK-47-wielding syndicates. Press conferences don’t buy ballistic vests.” Historical records show that in August 2020, the Oyo State Government approved N59.78 million as a takeoff grant for Amotekun. However, critics argue this initial funding has proven inadequate for sustained operations against heavily armed criminal gangs. In contrast, Lagos State has consistently allocated billions of naira annually to security infrastructure across various agencies.

Olusegun questioned Makinde’s capacity to manage a full-fledged state police given his perceived inability to adequately fund the regional security outfit. “If Gov. Makinde cannot adequately finance, equip, and manage his own regional vigilante group, how does he plan to shoulder the colossal financial burden of a full-fledged State Police? State policing requires forensic labs, armories, pensions, and unassailable funding, not just loud rhetoric.” He further emphasized that President Tinubu understands that constitutional security reform “requires meticulous legality and rigid economic frameworks, not rushed politics to distract from local failures.”

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Olusegun concluded his statement by directly challenging the Oyo governor: “Before lecturing the architect of Nigeria’s most successful security funding model, Gov. Makinde owes the people of Oyo State a duty of care. Elevate Amotekun from a poorly funded political prop into a tactically superior force. Until then, the lectures remain hollow. Fix Oyo first!!! “

The exchange comes against the backdrop of a major security crisis in Oyo State. The abducted principal of Community Grammar School, Alamu Folawe, made a fresh appeal from captivity, urging President Tinubu and Governor Makinde to pursue dialogue over force to secure the release of herself and other abductees. “We are in the cold, we are under the sun, we are under the rain, the children and the adults as well. Please, we are begging you, don’t let them waste our lives,” she said in a video that has since gone viral. President Tinubu had earlier condemned the attack and renewed his call for the establishment of state police, with security agencies stepping up efforts to rescue the victims. In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the President said security agencies were stepping up efforts to rescue the victims and that the Inspector-General of Police was personally coordinating a technology-driven operation aimed at securing their release.

The latest verbal confrontation between the Presidency and Governor Makinde also carries significant political undertones. On May 14, 2026, just one day before the school abduction and two days before his APM primaries address, Makinde formally declared his intention to contest the 2027 presidential election under an alliance involving the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM). At his declaration rally held at Mapo Hall, Ibadan, he launched the “Reset Nigeria Movement,” describing it as a platform for policy engagement, volunteer registration, grassroots coordination, and diaspora participation. Speaking at the rally, Makinde warned that Nigeria was drifting dangerously towards a one-party state, insisting that democracy itself was under threat if opposition forces failed to unite against what he described as systematic attempts to weaken alternative political voices. He declared, “Today, I, Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde, FNSE, announce my candidacy for the position of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under the PDP/APM alliance.”

The Oyo governor has been actively building opposition alliances, hosting a major opposition summit in Ibadan in April 2026 that brought together former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, former Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and several other opposition figures. With his declaration, Makinde joined Atiku Abubakar, Rotimi Amaechi, Peter Obi, and Adewole Adebayo among those expected to challenge President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election. This political context adds another layer to the ongoing war of words, as Makinde positions himself as a leading opposition figure while the Presidency seeks to portray him as a governor failing to address security challenges in his own state. The battle lines are increasingly drawn ahead of 2027, with security governance emerging as a central theme of the emerging political contest.