G5 Gov Battle: What I Told Oyo People Before Presidential Election – Seyi Makinde Opens Up
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State gave insight into his discussions with the people about the controversies that followed the presidential campaign of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Makinde made the revelation amid his re-election in Saturday’s gubernatorial election, winning 563,756 votes to defeat runner-up Teslim Folarin of the All Progressives Congress (APC). , who won 256,685 votes.
In the February 25 presidential election, APC’s Bola Tinubu defeated PDP’s Atiku Abubakar Oyo and was subsequently declared president-elect.
Tinubu’s victory in the state came after Makinde refused to support Atiku, a northerner, on PDP zoning principles.
Governor Oyo’s partnership with four other uneasy governors from the party known as the G5 then sparked speculation that he supported the Tinubu southerner’s candidacy over partisanship. But the governor dismissed the speculation during a live appearance on Channels Television’s The 2023 Verdict on Sunday.
“Governor Mai Mala Buni has just won his own re-election under the APC,” he said. “But in the presidential election, the PDP won the Yobe State. Does this mean Governor Buni is working for the PDP? »
According to him, the reality is that people will make their choices.
“At the end of the day, the decision of who they voted for rested with the people. In all fairness, I told our people, ‘You must not do anything that will threaten the unity of this country’,” he said.
“‘We should be pushing in a direction where we’ll foster a united Nigeria, an inclusive Nigeria.’”
Arguing that the people of Oyo State could not be led blindly, the governor stated that they were “quite sophisticated”, adding that “that is behind us now”.
Makinde said before Nigerians is a president-elect who has emerged, adding that “we must support him [and] work with him for a better country”.
He reiterated that the agitation of the G5 did not place the individual careers of the governors as a major consideration.
“We thought we were going to fight for what is right, what is just for this country and for our party. We said, ‘We prefer to see a PDP that will obey its own constitution’ because rotation and zoning of government and party offices is there; it’s part of PDP’s constitution,” he said.
“None of us ever thought, ‘We’re playing a survival game.’ No. We were just basically saying, ‘Do what is right. Do what is just. Have inclusivity as something that is central in our party and in our country and don’t do anything that can threaten the unity of this country.’ There’s no regret.”
