‘Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo State, has said that unlike his immediate predecessor, he decided to release one billion naira to former council officials sacked by his administration.
He said he deliberately did not coerce them to join the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, before paying them.
Speaking when members of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, thronged the Oyo State Government Secretariat, Agodi Ibadan, yesterday to pay a thank-you visit to him over the fulfillment of the agreement made to the party during the last general election, Makinde explained that “In the beginning, I met with the former chairmen (before they got sacked) to see how we could try to settle the row internally but they disagreed and settled for the court case. So, I had to go with the same option since I knew it would end one day.
“I did not ask them to come into our own party and I approved the sum of N1bn for them as part of the payment of their entitlements.
“The good thing is that the money we gave to them will be spent here in Oyo State. So, by the time they finish fighting over how to share it among themselves, they will still come to the market to buy one or two things from our Iyalojas.
“We did not coerce ADC members to defect to our PDP before we gave them what is due them. We gave them commissioners and other slots.”
