By Adesakin Adefemi
Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has invoked the bloody legacy of “Operation Wetie” to warn against Nigeria’s drift toward one-party domination, saying democracy dies when opposition parties become ineffective.
He spoke on Friday at the National Summit of All Opposition Political Party Leaders held in Ibadan.
Makinde reminded the gathering that Ibadan was the epicentre of “Operation Wetie” in the mid-1960s, a violent political crisis where opponents were doused in petrol and set ablaze following disputed Western Region elections. “For those carrying on as if there’s no tomorrow, they should remember that ‘operation wetie’ started from here. This is the same Wild Wild West,” the governor said.
He drew parallels between that era and current political tensions, noting “open efforts to consolidate legislative control under one party” while opposition parties are weakened by internal crises and legal battles. Makinde warned that such developments raise “serious questions about their ability to function effectively” as checks on power.
The governor said democracy is not destroyed overnight but “weakened step by step until people begin to feel it no longer works for them.” He argued that when opposition becomes ineffective, democracy itself loses meaning because “democracy is not defined by the success of one party. It is defined by the existence of real alternatives.”
Makinde stressed that the Ibadan summit was not about personal ambition or vendettas. “This meeting is not a gang up against one man. And it’s not about individual ambition to be president,” he said. “It is about the collective ambition of the Nigerian people to have a democracy that is properly defined.”
He recalled that Ibadan hosted crucial constitutional conversations in 1950 that helped shape Nigeria’s future, saying the current gathering “carries the same responsibility.” Those 1950 discussions, he noted, were driven by recognition that the nation’s structure must be “deliberately built, protected, and well debated.”
The governor dismissed suggestions that saboteurs were at the summit but cautioned leaders not to be disengaged from politics at a critical time. “I don’t want to think saboteurs are here. Because democracy is not destroyed overnight,” he told opposition leaders assembled at the event.
Makinde emphasized that credible opposition is not a threat to democracy but a requirement for it. “No matter how strong a party becomes or how popular any government may appear, the presence of credible opposition is not a threat to democracy,” he stated.
He concluded by calling on opposition parties to resolve internal conflicts and reposition themselves as real alternatives for citizens. The summit, he said, must signal that Nigerians still have “the ability to choose,” or risk repeating the political violence that once earned the West the nickname “Wild Wild West.”
