The battle for who gets the Oyo State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship primary tomorrow is straight fight between businessman and philanthropist, Engineer Oluwaseyi Makinde and Senator Ayoade Adeseun.
Makinde is from Ibadan while Adeseun in from Ogbomoso.
Makinde is not new to the governorship race having previously bid for the PDP ticket in 2015 and lost. He soon switched allegiance to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on which platform he contested the governorship election only to lose to incumbent governor Abiola Ajimobi. He returned to the PDP in 2017 at the invitation of the then caretaker national chairman of the party,Senator Ahmed Makarfi,spending his time and resources to rebuild the party ahead of the 2019 elections.
His efforts have endeared him to many party supporters who are rooting for him to go all the way. His popularity and grip on the PDP structure seemed to have forced former governor Rashidi Ladoja and his supporters out of the PDP to join the African Democratic Congress (ADC). His opponent, Adeseun ,is not a push over either.
He has been chairman , Surulere Local Government, pioneer chairman of All People’s Party (APP) in the state, member House of Representatives elected on the platform of PDP and senator elected on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) before rejoining PDP ahead of the 2019 polls.
But the odds seem to be overwhelmingly in favour of Makinde who many party supporters adore for his generosity. The fact that majority of the votes will be coming from Ibadanland which controls close to half of the 33 local government areas of the state is a factor in deciding who,between the two, will fly the PDP ticket.
Source: The Nation.
