Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State claims that Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, is using the accomplishments of his government to gain the state in the election scheduled for next month.
Makinde, who appeared live on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, refuted allegations made by Wole Oyelese, a former minister of power and steel, stating that the reverse is the case.
Oyelese attacked the governor, calling his decision to refrain from campaigning for Atiku an act of betrayal, and said that Makinde needed Atiku to win.
In reference to Oyelese’s purported lack of popularity, Makinde claimed that the locals in his birthplace of Erunmu “wouldn’t even touch him with a long stick.”
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“So, you have all of these so-called expired politicians and then they go out there and say, “We’ve done this,” he said, urging the former minister to remain impartial. We’re up to the task.
The governor of Oyo stated that the demands of the G5 or Integrity Group—five disgruntled PDP governors who are protesting the “unjust” party leadership—went beyond personal aspirations and were about safeguarding national interests.
“Elder Oyelese is older than me and I will not disrespect him. But I think he basically stood logic on its head. It is the other way round,” he said.
“If our candidate will need to win in Oyo State, I will have to campaign for him because PDP in Oyo State is riding on the achievements that we’ve been able to make these three plus years.
“So, if he’s looking for a ministerial position – I don’t think anyone will give him a ministerial position anyway because the last time he had the opportunity, he didn’t do well at all.”
“I respect the opponents; I respect some of the challenges that we have to face for this election. But we are realists. We are driven by data and logic. We demonstrated it before.”
“If I will tell you precisely what is going on, the unity of this country is at stake. When they said, ‘Rotate. Let there be inclusivity. Get zone party positions – rotate it,’ it’s because we know that our federalism has not taken serious root.
“So, to compensate for some of the things that we don’t have constitutionally right now, we said, ‘Rotate the positions, do zoning.’ Now, we’ve disregarded that,” he said.
“The National Chairman himself was the one that made that comment that peradventure somebody from the northern part of the country emerges as the presidential candidate, he will resign.
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“But now you are saying the constitution must be followed. This is the constitution we’ve flagrantly disregarded in the first instance.”
“They said almost six months ago that ‘this is too close to an election to start asking the national chairman to resign.’
“But less than how many days ago, they dissolved the entire exco in Ekiti State. So, that dissolution is not too close to an election?” he asked.
Makinde was unafraid to praise his opponents who were of northern ancestry and had shown support for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, a southerner.
“I must give kudos to the governors on the platform of APC – governors like Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Jigawa, Mai Bala Buni of Yobe, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi.
“They came together within their party and they said, ‘For the unity of this country, let us sacrifice our ambition. Let the presidency rotate to the South.’ So, we must give kudos to them.
“But what happened in our own party? We were fighting ourselves and saying, ‘Our constitution can go to blazes.’ I don’t think that is right,” he said.
In the governor’s opinion, the principles by which he and other G5 members are standing will go down in history.
“The Integrity Governors are not in this to say, ‘We’re trying to prove that we’re right or wrong.’
“We’re standing on a principle and if you stand on a principle, whether you’re right or you’re wrong, may thou be left for posterity because all of this will come and go.
“In another four weeks, the election will have been won and lost, and then we’ll be faced with the judgement of posterity.”
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