Makinde Re-election In Turmoil As Ex-Governor, 12 Parties Endorse APC Candidate

…PDP Ignores Governor

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is facing a serious headache towards his re-election as former governor of the state, Rasheed Ladoja, the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and 10 other political parties, have endorsed the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Teslim Folarin, for Saturday’s election.

Ladoja, who was the governor of the state between 2003 and 2007, has begun mobilising political stakeholders and groups to ensure the APC candidate is returned elected on Saturday.

He defected to the Zenith Labour Party in December 2018 and successfully led a coalition of parties against the central establishment that elected Makinde in 2019 believed to have set in fresh air in the state.

Ladoja is also engaging the Obidients movement, the supporters of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, to ensure the APC candidate is elected.

The Obidients are also aggrieved that Makinde allegedly supported Obi’s rival, Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC for election as president.

They have been unhappy with the G-5, particularly the arrowheads of the group, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, and Makinde, two states where they believed Obi could have won huge votes.

They have vowed to pay back Makinde in the same coin just as they have said they would mobilise their supporters with adequate votes against Wike and all members of the G-5 in the coming election.

Ladoja said Makinde failed to honour the agreement that led to his election noting that his role in the total victory of the APC in the presidential and National Assembly elections meant he prefered an APC government at both the federal and state level hence no need to vote for him to remain as governor.

Justifying his mobilisation for Folarin, Ladoja said, “In the just concluded National Assembly elections, all the three senators under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party lost. And this is not about the history of Oyo State, but also about the history of the person in power. We saw an example of this in Osun State.

“Osun State governor, Ademola Adeleke, has only been in power for three months, yet he was able to clear all the House of Representatives and senatorial seats for candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the just concluded National Assembly elections. And then, we have to know that Osun State is in a peculiar position because it is the roots of Bola Tinubu, the president-elect,” he added.

“After Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, picked the PDP House of Representatives and senatorial candidates to represent the state at the National Assembly, he didn’t offer any form of support to them,” the former governor said.

“He didn’t spend money to support them or gave out a word to the citizens for any single one of them. Even God detests actions that are unfair and unjust,” the former governor said.

He advised the people to vote for Folarin, assuring the people that in the coming days, more parties would declare their endorsement for the APC candidate.

“When Saturday, March 18 comes, please, leave all you are doing and go out to cast your votes for Teslim Folarin, the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, in the state.

“One of our major mobilisers in the PDP called Olopoeyan recently defected to the camp of APC. Also, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) chapters of Oyo State have adopted Teslim Folarin as their preferred governorship candidate,” he said.

”Some political parties are also considering adopting Folarin already. However, I believe all will be sorted out in the coming days.

“Please, I am appealing to my loyalists to cast their votes for Folarin in the forthcoming gubernatorial election,” he added.

Faced with the imminent defeat, Makinde has tried unsuccessfully to stage a volte face in order to receive endorsement from the major voting bloc, the Obidients movement but was flatly rejected.

The chairman of the Labour Party, Oyo State chapter, Sodiq Atayese, was said to have appeared alongside Makinde and endorsed him for a second term.

But the state assembly candidates for the Saturday’s election and the Obidients movement, in a joint press conference denied there was an endorsement.

One of the candidates, Ayodeji Babalola, for Ibadan South East constituency 2, who spoke during the press conference held at Obi/Datti Campaign office in Oke Ado area of Ibadan, said, “The movement and all candidates hereby totally dissociate itself from the selfish stand of those negligible and greedy elements. The entire public is hereby put on notice to beware of this desperate move.

“All Obi-dient members are hereby urged to remain calm, maintain status quo ante bellum, while we go out en masse on Saturday to massively vote for all our state assembly candidates and our gubernatorial candidate, Taofiq Tayo Akinwale.”

Other candidates who signed the communique were Kayode Adejumo-Bello, Candidate, Ibadan North Constituency 2; Temidayo Taiwo, Candidate, Ibadan South-West Constituency 2; Oluwatoyin Okunlola, Candidate Oluyole Constituency and Sumonu Musa, Candidate Ibadan North-East Constituency 2.

The PDP has also kept away from the governor and has not hidden its disdain for the man who has been blamed for the defeat of Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the party.

THE WHISTLER gathered that former ministers, senators and federal and state house of assembly members who formed the Atiku Support Group in the state have all moved to ensure Folarin is returned elected.

The Atiku coalition is reportedly now in control of the PDP machinery in the state with Makinde isolated.

A member of the PDP National Executive Committee told our Correspondent on Monday morning that the governor has tried repeatedly to make amends with the party leadership in Abuja but has been rebuffed.

The spokesman of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba could not respond to an inquiry from this paper on Monday morning but the NEC member said, Makinde is in a fix and his re-election is dead. The PDP leadership has rejected his overtures.”

He said Makinde’s rapprochement has hit a brick wall as “no one is ready to listen to him.”