Moves by Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to join the All Progressives Congress (APC) has met with stiff opposition by the stakeholders in the progressives fold in the state.
Rising from a stakeholders’ meeting on Monday attended by the Oyo Solidarity Front (OSF), Oyo Progressives Resolute (OPR) and Oyo Sustainable Development Movement (OSDM), the groups said any attempt by the governor to join the party would be resisted by stakeholders in Oyo APC, adding that the masses “will be mobilised to stop this anathema to progressive tendencies.”
A statement by Messrs. Johnson Olooto, Shina Alubankudi, Waheed Olanrewaju, Sunday Olododo, Ibrahim Arikewusola and Daud Arapaja, chairmen and secretaries of the groups, said: “Governor Makinde has been rejected by his party and its leadership in the Southwest and he is looking for a soft landing. He should move further than the APC.
“He has always claimed to be popular. He should stake his popularity in any of the other parties, not in the APC where he has elevated his attack on party leadership to a state policy.”
The groups noted that Makinde could not be trusted as evidenced in the “accident” suffered by the coalition that ensured his emergence as governor.
“He betrayed those who worked for him to emerge as the governor, leading to the collapse of the coalition. Was it not the same Governor Makinde that said there was Coronavirus in the APC at one of his party’s rallies? Was he not the same governor who harassed members of the progressives in the state and has continued to do so? So why does he think it is the same party that should offer him a soft landing?”
The groups said someone that could not be trusted would find it difficult to get a berth in the APC.
“All the people that helped him to power are no longer with him. Former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose was the person that handed over the PDP flag to him as the party’s standard-bearer. Today he is at loggerheads with his benefactor. His antics have left his party more divided and many have deserted him. He will be an albatross on the neck of the APC in Oyo State and we will resist his attempt to join our party,” the stakeholders said.
They noted that there is no room for Governor Makinde in the APC.
