Akinwande Soji-Ojo
As the preparation for the 2023 general elections continue to gather pace, an Ibadan-based youth pressure group, Vanguard for Progressive Youths (VAPY), has urged the Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, to rescind his decision to run for second term in office and also quit politics to enable him concentrate on his private life and business.
Makinde is one of the five Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors who are currently at loggerheads with the leadership of the party, over certain political interest even as the presidential and national assembly elections hold next month.
In a statement issued on Thursday in Ibadan by its Coordinator, Comrade Ridwan Bello and Secretary, Prince Kunle Adesiyan, VAPY described Makinde as “the most confused political player in the current dispensation in view of his status and dilemma in making the right decisions as far as the 2023 general elections is concerned even as he tries to avoid answering for his many sins in the last three and a half years.”
“There is no gainsaying the fact that among the G5 governor, the Oyo State helmsman is in the greatest dilemma. This is not because he is the only one seeking reelection as governor but he is the weakest in terms of home support, having lost the confidence of all that matter in Oyo PDP. There is no way Gov. Makinde would survive the electoral defeat in the hand of the APC candidate, Sen. Teslim Folarin, since his own people in Oyo PDP as well as major stakeholders in the state want him humiliated at the poll.
“Whatever position being advanced by Governors Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) is secondary to Gov. Makinde whose personal goal is to secure a soft landing for himself after he would have lost his second term bid through the ballot. The same Gov. Makinde who gave out key appointments and patronage to only the lackeys who followed him to SDP in 2015 and returned with him to the PDP in 2018 cannot be said to be sincere in the agitation for power shift the South this time.
“Even if the Gov. Wike and his team get to strike a deal with the presidential candidate of the APC, Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, or any other person for that matter, providing a ground for Gov. Makinde to retain his seat Oyo governor can never be part of the negotiation in view of the danger which such consideration portends. For the avoidance of doubt, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is conversant with the situation in Oyo State and he would not dabble into anything capable of undermining the chances of his own party especially when those in charge have proved to be up to the task.
“Gov. Makinde and his handful supporters should bury the thought that Asiwaju or any other person would trade the candidates of Oyo APC in any negotiation. If Gov. Makinde feels the need to be part of history by working for the victory of the former governor of Lagos State over Atiku Abubakar, Mr. Peter Obi and others, he should step down as candidate of the PDP for the 2023 gubernatorial election in Oyo State now and declare for the APC as a member and later one of the leaders,” the Group stated.
