- Safiu Kehinde
Oyo state governor, Seyi Makinde, has reiterated that Ooni of Ife’s ex-wife, Queen Naomi Silekunola, and the owner of Àgídìgbo FM, Oriyomi Hamzat, must face trial over last month’s stampede incident which claimed 35 lives in Ibadan.
Makinde made this known while speaking at the Annual Inter-Faith Service for Year 2025 on Monday.
Recalling the incident which occured at Islamic High School, Bashorun area of Ibadan where Queen Naomi had organized an ill-fated children’s funfair, Makinde revealed how some individuals challenged him over the arraignment of the event organizers.
“Towards the end of the year, we had a stampede at Islamic High School, Bashorun. 35 innocent souls were lost. May we not experience such again in Oyo state.
“Quite a number of people were reaching out to me saying this thing happened in Anambra state. It happened also in FCT. Nobody went to jail. Why is it that is in Oyo state tham some people are going to jail?” Makinde said.
The governor, however, held that justice must prevail regardless of the status of those involved.
While stating that he had no problem if the judiciary granted them bail, Makinde held that
“I told them Oyo state is not Anambra state and no matter how highly placed, justice must be done.
“The Judiciary are here. It’s in their court. If you think you can grant bail pending the trial, I don’t have anything against it. But the people must go on trial.
“People come to me and I’ve been saying to them that even if the entire country decides not to follow the rule of law, Oyo state will follow the rule of law.” Makinde added.
Meanwhile, Makinde expressed his gratitude to labour leaders in the state for their cooperation and understanding which resulted in successful negotiations for a new minimum wage of N80,000.
As contained in a post on his official X handle, he also pledged to continue working on the payment of backlog of pensions and gratuity inherited by his administration.
“I thanked Labour leaders in Oyo State for their cooperation and understanding which resulted in successful negotiations for a new minimum wage of N80,000 and consequential adjustments.
“We are still in the process of negotiating increments to pensions and should conclude this very soon.
“I also said we will work towards ensuring that we clear the backlog of pensions and gratuity payments which we inherited and have accumulated before we leave office.
“We will also put in place a more sustainable way of meeting these obligations including deliberating on a contributory pension scheme as an option especially for the newly recruited workers.” Makinde added.