Governor Seyi Makinde has said that it is impossible to speak truth to power under the administration of President Bola Tinubu, using the new tax laws as an example and comparing it with the former President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

He said this during the 60th birthday ceremony of the President of The Men of Issachar Vision Incorporated (MIV) and Overseer of the Redemption Faith Churches in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Samson Ajetomobi.

The birthday ceremony had the Vice President in the Buhari administration, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) in attendance. Makinde, who expressed admiration for Osinbajo’s style of leadership, said: “I personally miss you as vice president. “Things have not really been the same in this present administration.”

He recalled how Osinbajo’s intervention prevented him from locking down Oyo State during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. He said: “I remember I was barely seven months into the position of the governor of Oyo State, and that was my very first public service job, and we had a crisis in the country.

“This was February 2020. “There was COVID, and we came in for the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting. “It was a hot meeting. “The chairman of the council (Osinbajo) came in, and a few of my colleagues. “I wasn’t sure whether they held a meeting before that meeting, but they came in and said we should all go back and lock down our states.

“So, for Oyo State people, why I did not lock down during COVID was because of his decision.” Makinde, however, noted that the situation is different with the Tinubu administration, citing the refusal to withdraw the tax bill to which he had last September declined assent after it was passed by the Oyo State House of Assembly. He said: “But we had the same situation in this dispensation.

“It was the tax bill. “We said: ‘Look, bring the tax bill, bring it back, let us all have an opportunity to look dispassionately at it.’ “But you cannot speak truth to power in this dispensation: ‘The tax bill will go ahead.’”