Nigerians Need Prayers, Not Politicians – Seyi Makinde

Oyo State Governor, Mr Seyi Makinde has come out to say that Nigerians need prayers in Nigeria, not politicians.

He recently revealed this while reacting to the homily from Diocesan Bishop of Osun North Anglican Communion, Rt Reverend Adetoye Olaoye at the 70th birthday anniversary thanksgiving of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola held at the Oba Samuel Oyinlola Memorial Anglican Church, Okuku, Osun state.

According to him, the percentage of politicians in Nigeria is too insignificant to be a huge influence on the society, so the people are still the ones in control.

He added that political office holders do not run governance without the input of the civil servants, therefore when clerics say the politicans need prayers, they are wrong.

His words, “I picked one or two things from the sermon of the Bishop. He said governance should not be about APC or PDP. He tasked the citizens to pray for politicians to rule with the fear of God. But I want to say that politicians represent a small fraction of the population of our society.”

“I recognise the fact that once you attain power you exact influence of the society. We, the politicians are not from abroad, we are from society. Politicians are a reflection of our society. The prayer we need is that as humans and Nigerians, God should continually guide us to do the right thing. There is no governor or any political office holders that can be successful without the civil servants, so if you are praying for the political leaders, please pray for civil servants.”

“The celebrant is wise, knowledgeable and his words are proverbial. He is excellence emeritus. He belongs to everybody. On behalf of the government and people of Oyo State, I wish you a happy birthday and many happy returns. At 70 you at the cross in between wisdom, knowledge and energy.”

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Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde (born 25 December 1967) is a Nigerian businessman, politician and philanthropist. He is the governor of Oyo State in South-western Nigeria. He is an engineer and a subject matter expert on fluid and gas metering. Until August 2018, he was the Group Managing Director of Makon Group Limited; an indigenous oil and gas company in Nigeria. He established his first oil and gas private business called Makon Engineering and Technical Services, (METS) at the age of 29 in the year 1997, after earning years of work experience with international oil and gas companies.

Makinde contested for the Oyo State 2015 gubernatorial seat on the platform Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Makinde was born to a renowned teacher turned accountant, late Pa Olatubosun Makinde and Madam Abigail Makinde of Aigbofa Compound in Oja’ba, Ibadan. He is the third child of the family.

Makinde did his national service (NYSC) with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria, where he was later engaged as a pupil engineer. He served in different capacities; handling and partaking in several key projects between 1990 and 1992. From 1992 to 1997, he worked as a field Engineer (Eket operations) for Rebold International Limited and in 1995, he was appointed as Field Manager in the same company.