Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde and the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in the state, Senator Sharafadeen Alli, have traded criticisms over their professional credentials and records in public office, bringing questions about legal practice, engineering, public spending and infrastructure into the political exchanges ahead of the 2027 elections.
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Makinde, who is the presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement, questioned Alli’s experience as a practising lawyer, while the APC candidate’s campaign responded by challenging the governor’s record as an electrical engineer, particularly over the state’s streetlight programme and the renovation of the Lekan Salami Stadium in Ibadan. Alli currently represents Oyo South Senatorial District.
Makinde made the remarks on Friday while defending his administration’s record and highlighting the professional qualifications of senior members of his government.
“You can see a team standing in front of you. I am an engineer, a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers,” Makinde said.
“The acting governor is a lawyer and former attorney-general of the state. The SSG is a professor of economics, while the head of service is a PhD holder. We brought our first eleven to serve Oyo state.”
Turning his attention to Alli, the governor challenged voters to scrutinise the APC candidate’s professional record as a lawyer.
“If you like, go and vote for someone who claimed to be a lawyer but has never entered a courtroom. Let him mention any case he has handled,” Makinde said.
The governor also challenged his political opponents to point to their achievements and questioned some proposals being advanced ahead of the 2027 election.
Makinde said governance should be approached as a serious responsibility because decisions taken by those in government affect millions of people.
“Governance is a serious business because millions of people’s destinies are involved. This is not a place to come and joke,” he said.
Alli’s campaign organisation, however, responded on Saturday through its Head of Media and Publicity, Bisi Oladele, disputing Makinde’s characterisation of the senator’s legal career and directing criticism at the governor’s own engineering credentials.
The campaign said Alli began legal practice during his National Youth Service Corps programme in 1987 with A.E. Enumah & Associates in Nnewi, Anambra State, before subsequently practising with R.A. Sarumi & Co. It also said he established Biodun Alli & Co. in Ibadan in 1994 and remains its principal partner. Those assertions were made by the campaign in response to Makinde’s challenge.
The campaign then turned to Makinde’s professional background, questioning the operation and cost of the Oyo State streetlight project.
“It is a tragic irony that governor Makinde, who studied electrical engineering, cannot devise a sustainable electricity solution for the streetlights installed with about N400 billion of state funds by his government,” the statement said.
The campaign organisation alleged that the streetlights were being powered by generators, describing the arrangement as expensive and environmentally harmful.
“Instead, the administration continues to power them with fuel-guzzling generators—an outdated, expensive and environmentally harmful arrangement funded from the public purse,” Oladele said.
It also questioned why solar infrastructure and electricity poles allegedly installed by the administration preceding Makinde’s were not repaired or upgraded.
“If not for the prime purpose of enriching self, cronies and deliberately wasting Oyo State funds, why will Governor Makinde destroy the solar infrastructure and electric poles installed by his predecessor instead of repairing and upgrading them to a higher solar grade?” the campaign spokesperson asked. The allegation was presented by the campaign organisation and was not established as a finding of wrongdoing in the reports reviewed.
Oladele further alleged that parts of the streetlight project had become dysfunctional and that load-shedding was being used to keep some sections operating.
“This raises serious questions about the governor’s competence, priorities and commitment to prudent management of taxpayers’ money. Should we judge Governor Makinde’s claim as an electrical engineer by his streetlight project, the answer is obvious to all,” he said.
The campaign organisation also brought the renovation of Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasingba, Ibadan, into the dispute.
It alleged that despite more than ₦5 billion reportedly committed to the renovation, the facility subsequently failed to meet the requirements for Shooting Stars Sports Club to host a continental fixture there.
“After committing over N5 billion to the stadium renovation project, followed by great fanfare in 2021, the facility could not satisfy the requirements for the very international matches expected of a major sporting arena,” Oladele said.
The campaign spokesperson questioned why Shooting Stars would have to use an alternative venue in Abeokuta, Ogun State, despite the investment made in its traditional home ground.
“What, then, did Governor Makinde renovate? Who certified the work, and why should Shooting Stars be forced to seek an alternative venue in Abeokuta, Ogun State, after Oyo taxpayers had financed the reconstruction of their traditional home ground?” he asked.
The Alli campaign consequently characterised both projects as examples of what it considered inadequate outcomes from government expenditure, saying: “From streetlights powered with generators to a refurbished stadium unsuitable for continental football, the evidence points to a government that spends heavily but delivers poorly.” That assessment represents the campaign organisation’s political criticism of the Makinde administration.
Oladele also said Alli had been “living rent-free in Makinde’s mind”, arguing that the governor’s repeated references to the APC candidate demonstrated the extent to which Alli had become a focus of the administration’s political messaging.
The exchange comes amid an increasingly active Oyo political contest ahead of 2027. Alli is the APC governorship candidate, while Makinde is pursuing the presidency on the APM platform. The APM’s candidate for the Oyo governorship is former state Commissioner for Finance Bimbo Adekanmbi.
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