‘Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo State, will not attend Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign in Ibadan tomorrow barring any last minutes’ change of mind, OYOINSIGHT.COM can authoritatively report.
This is just as national assembly candidates of the party in the state are confused on whether to go or not.
Ademola Adeleke, governor of neighbouring Osun, is expected to lead PDP governorship candidates in Lagos and Ogun to the event.
As at 3pm on Wednesday, those in the know told OYOINSIGHT.COM that Makinde has not got signal from the leader of the G-5, Nyesom Wike of Rivers State to attend the event.
Unlike when the G-5 governors visited Ibadan few days ago, there is nothing welcoming Atiku and the PDP leaders to Ibadan. Also, the decoration of Mapo hall, venue of the event, and other logistics are not being handled by the Makinde administration.
Only yesterday, former governor Ayodele Fayose and some of his loyalists, especially those contesting senatorial and house of representatives seats on the platform of the party shunned the rally in Ekiti.
This newspaper understands that Makinde and 4 other governors of Rivers, Benue, Abia and Enugu are not disposed to the campaign of the former vice-president following his insistence that Iyorchia Ayu would not vacate his seat as national chairman of the PDP.
It is believed that the PDP stakeholders had an unwritten agreement that Ayu would vacate his seat if a northerner emerged presidential candidate of the party for 2023 election.
Only on Monday, the leadership of the party met in Abuja to decide its strategies in Oyo and other states where the PDP governors aren’t working for Atiku.
At the meeting attended by Jumoke Akinjide, Wole Oyelese and Hazeem Gbolarumi, they agreed to wait till after Thursday’s rally to inaugurate the Presidential Campaign Committee, PCC, for the state.
Though the governor is said to have met a stiff opposition in his bid to hijack the PCC structure through the back door, Monday’s meeting, which took place at the Legacy House, was without Makinde’s men.
Makinde, OYOINSIGHT.COM further learnt, had decided to hijack the PCC of Oyo State following rejection of the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the southwest for an alliance with the governor in the state.
”Their grouse was that Oyo is too central and important for the APC to engage in any alliance with Governor Makinde. Though the party is still in court, the loss of Osun is still fresh in their memories. So they are prepared to go into the election with Sen. Teslim Folarin, governorship candidate of the party,” a top PDP source told OYOINSIGHT.COM.
Another source corroborated bid by Makinde to hijack the PCC structure though the back door.
“Governor Seyi Makinde’s men were not even invited to the meeting. There were lots of twists.
He tried coming through the back but he’s been blocked. Constitution of Oyo PCC shifted till after Atiku Abubakar’s rally in Ibadan. Though there is no clear idea about who to head but Elder Wole Oyelese will likely be chairman while Alhaji Hazeem Gbolarumi will be director general.
“He actually attempted hijacking the organisation of the rally but forces against him within the PDP are enormous. One of the senatorial candidate, was seen as genuinely working for Atiku. As at Monday at Legacy House in Abuja, there were suspicion of a clandestine move to get Governor Seyi Makinde take to over the campaign but was rejected. The most recognized in Oyo State is Chief Wole Oyelese and Hazeem Gbolarumi and those are staunch anti-Makinde elements. They just got to Ibadan from Abuja this morning via lagos. Wildfire prevented the Air-peace flight to Ibadan yesterday from landing so the flight was returned to Abuja
“So I doubt if there’s any change in the position taken on Monday in Abuja,” the source added.
