REBECCA AJANI
THE All Progressives Congress in Oyo State has fauled Makinde’s denial of alleged moves to dump the Peoples Democratic Party for the APC.
While insisting that the Governor actually planned to move to APC “through the back door”, they described the latest twist of APC wooing Makinde as shameful and regrettable.
The party wondered why it would begin to woo a Governor who had been deserted by 90 per cent of his key political benefactors in less than two years in office.
Strong stakeholder groups within the Oyo APC had on Monday vowed to resist alleged moves by Governor Makinde to join the party.
They advised him to look elsewhere for a softlanding, after allegedly being “rejected by his party.”
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Taiwo Adisa, had however responded to this, saying that it was the Oyo APC that was wooing the governor, considering his personality and achievements in office.
But the State Caretaker Chairman of APC, Akin Oke, said Makinde played the ostrich by denying “apparent moves to join the APC through the back door.”
He said this through his Personal Assistant (Media), Olawale Sadare, in a statement made available to journalists on Tuesday.
The Chairman said, “While we appreciate the fact that there is free entry and free exit in party politics, we are disappointed that a governor can turn a desperado in his bid to be an overlord in the entire political space in a state like Oyo.
“With what Governor Makinde has just done, genuine democrats and other stakeholders in the nation’s democratic environment have a good cause to renew their fear for the future of democracy and the rule of law.”
He added, “Available facts indicate that he (Makinde) had established contacts with a former governor from the Niger Delta region who now lives in Abuja. The same former governor also co-opted some influential gladiators within the APC at the national level to penetrate the South West ostensibly to whittle down the dominance of others who they consider a threat for their own inordinate ambition ahead of 2023.
“It is on this premise that Governor Makinde’s overtures were considered and given some backing in principle.”
The Chairman said even if the party were to agree that Makinde, just like every other person, had the right to join any party of his choice at any point in time, there was a need to set the record straight that Oyo APC could not consider him an asset or good addition for obvious reasons.
He argued, “Virtually all the gladiators involved in the unfortunate coalition arrangement which gave victory to the PDP in the 2019 gubernatorial election are now in the APC after deserting him for tenable and justifiable reasons which revolve around insincerity, selfishness and undemocratic traits.
“Meanwhile, Oyo APC has kept intact the machinery with which we won two Senatorial seats out of the available three as well as nine out of the available fourteen House of Representatives seats in the 2019 election.”
He added, “If anything, the population of those elected on the platform of our party has increased while more people are coming into the fold in their large numbers. Is it then that we would begin to woo somebody who has been deserted by 90 per cent of his key political benefactors in less than two years in office?
“And with the fate that has befallen members and supporters of the PDP in the state who had hoped for a fair dealing in the build-up to the illegal local government election slated for May this year, the Makinde political anthill risks further depletion.”
“Therefore, the truth remains that Oyo APC would not need a character like Gov. Makinde who still has a long way to go if he desires to emerge a strong, credible, and popular political player during and after his four-year tenure,” the APC said.
