There are shoes in politics that no ordinary man can wear and still breathe. Rotimi Makinde from Ile-Ife has been wearing that shoe since 2015. Through 2019, through 2023, and now into 2026, he has walked through betrayal, discrimination, embarrassment, and a draining of fortune inside the same house he helped to build. Many remain complacent in comfort, but he sat on the mat while those he commissioned into politics were seated on chairs. He served as board member while sons of his lieutenants were made directors. The same structure that injured his heart with a kidnapped experience and almost cost him his life, and never spared his brother’s life, never looked at his side. A lesser man would have broken, or worse, become bitter.
But bitterness was never an option for Makinde. He stayed because this was never about him. It was about the market woman in Osogbo who needs someone to speak for her. It was about the Ife youth looking for opportunity. It was about the belief that APC can still be a vehicle for service in Osun. While the wind of rejection blew, he kept his eyes on the people. “Igi giga ni afẹfẹ n fẹ julọ” — the tallest tree faces the strongest wind. He was pushed to the background in rooms where his voice once mattered, yet he did not return evil for evil. He was denied, yet he kept showing up for the grassroots. That is not weakness. That is a discipline that politics has almost forgotten.
The irony of his story cuts deep. The same hands he raised now look away. The same structure he watered now gives shade to others while he stands in the sun. Pain upon pain, loss upon loss, and yet he remains focused. He did not defect in anger. He did not go silent. He chose loyalty over convenience and service over self. In a time when principle is expensive and defection is cheap, Makinde picked the harder road. He decided that his name would not be written in the book of those who abandoned ship when the sea got rough.
Now in 2026, nothing much has changed on the surface. He is still on the field. Still knocking doors. Still campaigning for APC. To some it looks like stubbornness. To those who know his heart, it is faith. Faith that loyalty tested by fire is the kind of loyalty a state can trust. Faith that a man who can be denied, injured, and still serve is a man who will not betray the people when power comes. That kind of character is rare, and Osun needs it now more than ever.
History will judge this season with clear eyes. The question before APC and before the people is simple. Will we continue to waste men who have paid with blood, pain, and patience, or will we honor those who refused to break? Not many can wear Rotimi Makinde’s shoe and remain calm. Not many can sit on the mat, carry that weight of memory, and still smile for the people. He does. And that, more than any title, is what leadership looks like.
_Pastor Tobi Lazarus
B’OMODE O Ku Vanguard_
