I won't chase away street traders because I once hawked bread - Seyi Makinde

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde on Wednesday lashed out at those criticising him for reversing some of his earlier decisions in the last seven months of his administration, saying he will not be too proud to reverse himself whenever it’s necessary to do so.

According to him, only God is infallible. He also assured that he would not be a party to chasing traders off the streets without first providing them alternatives, recounting that he once sold bread at Yemetu area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The governor, who spoke when he joined members of the Muslim community at the Oja’ba Central Mosque for a special prayer to commemorate his 52nd birthday, also said that his government would always be open to corrections.


He said: “We don’t know it all. If people tell us what we need to do, we will act. I am not proud to the extent that I can’t reverse myself because I know that pride comes before a fall.

“Somebody said that I was quoted as saying that I would not chase away street traders without providing them with alternatives. Yes, that is true because I know the mentality of street trading. I once sold bread by the roadside in Yemetu Area.

“I said so because we cannot send them away until we provide an alternative for them. And we have started enforcing that. We did that at Ojoo, where we asked people not to trade at the point where we want to situate our modern terminus.

// <\/s'+'cript>'); // --> //]]> From ICE