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The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, has asked a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate in the 2019 governorship election in Oyo State, Senator Olufemi Lanlehin, to stop the perpetual antics of dragging the governor into his political discourses, even when it was needless to do so.
The Media aide, in a response to a statement credited to the Lanlehin Media Bureau, declared that the Senator could easily make his point without struggling to drag Makinde into every matter.
Lanlehin, while congratulating Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu on his reelection, had advised Makinde to stop overestimating his political ability, telling him to learn from his failure in the Kogi and Ondo elections.
The former governorship aspirant said Makinde’s failure to win Kogi and Ondo State elections where he served as the national campaign chairman of the election for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates should have confirmed to him that he was overestimating his political ability.
He said:”Engr. Makinde’s larger-than-life disposition and deployment of enormous political arsenal in the just concluded Ondo poll is clearly uncalled for, and amounts to over-stretching one’s luck, despite his limited political experience, public service pedigree and personal integrity. I particularly urge him to take to heart the whipping lessons he received from his current Ondo misadventure and the last Kogi disaster, when he, on both occasions, returned to Ibadan with his tail between his legs, after failing in assignments that were very much beyond his capacity and experience.”
But Adisa said that Lanlehin’s comments amount to attention-seeking and unnecessary plot to distract the governor from the course of rebuilding Oyo to the state of everyone’s dream.
“Our attention has been drawn to the persistent struggle by the Lanlehin Media Bureau to draw the attention of the Governor of Oyo State, Engineer Seyi Makinde, each time the former Senator had course to make public statements.
“Much as one cannot deny the former Senator the right to interject in state and national political discourses, it has to be stated that he should be free to make his points without unnecessarily dragging Governor Makinde into his discourse.
“On the matter of the Ondo governorship election of October 10, it is on record that Governor Makinde, as Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) National Campaign Council did his best to secure victory for the party.
“Details of what transpired during that election are still being collated by the PDP, so we can say that the election process in Ondo is not closed. We can only advise the Senator and his newly adopted party to await the conclusion of the process in Ondo, which could get as far as the Supreme Court of the land.
“However, it must be stated that the attacks launched by Senator Lanlehin, obviously playing to the gallery to gain relevance in his new party, are needless. It is clear to well-meaning members of the public that turning what should have been a congratulatory message to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu to an avenue to rubbish Makinde is undignifying and unbecoming of the Senator, who should have known and acted better.”In any case, Governor Makinde remains unperturbed by the noise of the marketplace, as he continues to keep his focus on the goal of developing Oyo State, expanding its economy and lifting its people from poverty to prosperity,” Adisa said.