A former member of the house of representatives, Oyetunji Paul Omotayo, has revealed why he left the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC.
Oyetunji, who represented Akinyele/Lagelu federal constituency, said he and others were warned against working for Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo State, but they did not listen.
In an exclusive interview with OYOINSIGHT.COM, the senior special assistant to late former governor Abiola Ajimobi during his first term who was also deputy director general of the Olufemi Lanlehin campaign organization, said Makinde is not what he calls himself.
Read the excerpt of the interview below:
You recently joined the APC, can you tell us what led to that?
I was part of the coalition that birthed the Seyi Makinde administration and since PDP won the election in the state, he has failed to fulfill the promises he made and that was part of why Senator Olufemi Lanlehin left and I must tell you my brother, Lanlehin was the face of ADC in that coalition and he went behind to give appointment to some people. For instance, Senator Monsurat from Oyo contested her election, so she wasn’t the face of ADC. The face of the ADC was nobody but Lanlehin but Makinde stopped picking his calls. To me he has not given anything to us in the ADC.
But before you joined APC some few days ago, you were a member of the PDP, why did you leave despite the fact that PDP is the ruling party in the state?
I left because the governor didn’t want to see us. He didn’t contact us, we were relegated in our local government. For instance, I dont know what is happening in my local government talkless the state. He brought people from outside to be in his government. I think what he is doing is this; people that did not work for his emergence will continue to thank him for whatever they get.
But I want to tell you something now, even in PDP before I left, he did not choose any commissioner from Ibadan less city. Ibadan less city doesn’t have any commissioner in the cabinet. We are aggrieved. We worked for the party. When I sent him a text message that after consulting my people in my local government, I have decided to leave. He replied, saying ‘Goodkuck, Hon.’ I later told him that “I will react to your sarcastic and garrulous take when its time.”
A cow does not know the value of its tail until when it is cut off. He is fighting so many battles. The day Alhaji Adebisi Olopoeyan called Hon. Mulikat Adeola. That was before the 2019 elections. We went to her because we were like five rebuilding PDP. Then she said Alhaji Olopoeyan said he will like her to meet one Seyi Makinde. She then asked us, ‘is it appropriate for me to meet him?’ I was the one who said she should meet him. That was before the last election.
Apart from that, before the last elections, I was mandated from the national headquarters of PDP that I should reconcile him with Hon. Muraina Ajibola because they see Ajibola as the face of PDP in Southwest, not only in Oyo State.
(Cuts in) But is he in good terms with Hon. Muraina?
They are not. The Oyo South senatorial chairman of the PDP chairman, whoo is from Ibapara has just bern released from police custody. Ajibola got the old man out. You will recall that the chairmen of the PDP in Ibarapa North and Central local government areas did not see the government when he came to Ibarapaland.
Now that you are now in the APC, should we expect a return of Oyetunji to the house of representatives or join hands with others to dislodge the PDP in the 2023 elections?
I have come to the APC to be a party man and I am sure when we work, good things will come to our way unlike in the PDP, where we worked, but didn’t get anything.
You said you were warned against working for Seyi Makinde…
Yes. After the first election, we sat down- Asiwaju Yemi Aderibigbe, Nureni Akanbi, and Bashiru Lawal and myself. I said there is no way we can win this election with ADC, we need to go into coalition with others. When we informed Senator Lanlehin, he was weeping. He reminded us how he relied on us. We said look at this; can we win this election? Then we called a larger house, it was there some people said they can never work for Seyi Makinde that he is a known serial betrayer. Before then, I had met his old friend, Engr. Richard Dada, who was his mate during his university days. The guy was a footballer, he was the one feeding him, even used to wear his clothes. Makinde was from a humble background but immediately he started getting money, he neglected everybody. Shebi he is now fat, was he fat before? And he was calling himself a billionaire before. He was so lean before. Let’s see how he go about his second term or he may even leave PDP.
