Governor Seyi Makinde’s special adviser on political matters and strategy, Hon. Babatunde Oduyoye has denied allegation by the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, that popular socialite, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, followed his boss to Kogi for last weekend governorship post.
Sunday Igboho, OYOINSIGHT.COM recalls, had while explaining his absence at an Islamic event, in a viral video, said that he was unable to attend the event because he followed the governor to Kogi.
Makinde, this newspaper understands, was the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Governorship, PDP, campaign in the election won by incumbent Governor Yahaya Bello.
But in an interview with SundayTRIBUNE, Oduyoye, who represented Ibadan North West / South West federal constituency between 1999 and 2007, said his boss was not even in Kogi on election day.
According to him, “When we ran the last general election in Oyo State, it was open and glaring that PDP did not encourage thuggery. We did not have busses filled with ammunitions going about like the APC. Rather, we were the ones that were shot at. You will recall what happened to PDP campaign train at Ojoo when we were coming back from a campaign trip. I am also sure the people of Oyo State would remember how many lives were lost in Ibarapa during APC rally and how thugs loyal to the party terrorized some parts of Ibadan. Governor Makinde does not encourage or support thuggery. That’s one.
“Two, important personalities saddled with the responsibilities of assisting the governor, including myself; the chairman of the state advisory council, and some of his lieutenants were the only people that travelled with him to Kogi. I say it with all sense of seriousness and without any fear of contradiction from any quarters that Governor Makinde did not invite, see or have anything to do with Sunday Igboho or any other person. Personally, I don’t know him. I have never met him. He was not part of the governor’s entourage to Kogi State. Neither was there Auxiliary, as they are saying. It is totally false. As far as I am concerned, I maintain that at no point did the governor meet or invite Auxiliary or Sunday Igboho to Kogi State.
“The governor is unaware of all these. The governor was even surprised to learn from the social media that Sunday Igboho was in Lokoja. I want to maintain that he doesn’t support thuggery and will not encourage it. Look at the action he took in proscribing the National Union of Road Transports Workers (NURTW) in the state. He has shown the people of the state that he will not support violence or encourage it. If anyone is saying that, I think they are just trying to present what does not exist. It’s all fallacy.”
Oduyoye also spoke about allegations by the APC that Makinde used money belonging to Oyo to finance Kogi PDP election.
”No penny of Oyo State money was expended on the election in Kogi. In his personal capacity, he would probably have assisted the candidate, but I want to tell you that no kobo of Oyo State was expended on Kogi.
“When the governor declared his assets, didn’t you hear worse things than that? Didn’t you hear people questioning him despite the fact that there are departments in the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) that have the responsibility of verifying whether the declaration was true or false. How can someone ask the EFCC to investigate him; investigate him for what? For obeying his party and carrying out the functions of a chairman of a council? Why not call on EFCC to probe Governor Nasiru el-Rufai of Kaduna, who went on his kneels begging at the stadium? Why not call on EFCC to probe Mohammed Badaru of Jigawa, who went to Bayelsa and was there on the day of election? On the day of election, my governor was not even in Kogi State. He was in Abuja. You will recall that the agents of government were there to harass the governor and his entourage at the hotel. But we were able to whether that storm.
”So, as far as I am concerned, the APC has nothing to say and so, they are looking for every little opportunity to attack the governor and try to water down the achievements he has recorded within five months in office,” he noted.
office. I think they should be better concerned about their already failed voyage to supplant the will of the people and steal a mandate that the electorate did not give them. Instead of throwing antics and tantrums at the governor of Oyo State, the APC should be concerned about rebuilding their battered party.
Related
