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Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and his Osun counterpart, Ademola Adeleke, have knocked the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Ganduje, for saying the APC would take over Oyo and Osun states after winning Ondo State on Saturday.
Speaking with journalists in Akure on Sunday, after the Independent National Electoral Commission declared the APC candidate, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, as the winner of Saturday governorship election in Ondo State, Ganduje had declared that the APC aimed to achieve political homogeneity of the South-West by further displacing the Peoples Democratic Party from Oyo and Osun states.
Ganduje had said, “Our next target now is the South-West geopolitical zone, and you know we are good at hitting the target, and this is Osun State and Oyo State. We will do all that is possible to bring them into the fold so that we have political homogeneity in the South-West geopolitical zone.”
But reacting on Monday, Oyo State Governor Makinde described Ganduje’s assertion as wishful thinking while Osun Governor Adeleke cautioned the APC National Chairman against anti-democratic utterances and plots to destabilise the South-West.
The Oyo governor, through his Chief Press Secretary, Dr Sulaimon Olanrewaju, in a conversation with The PUNCH, said the government and the Oyo PDP would not surrender the state to the APC.
Olanrewaju said the Oyo governor aligned with a statement by the acting Publicity Secretary of the Oyo PDP, Micheal Ogunsina, who tackled Ganduje over the takeover plot.
Ogunsina, in his statement, said it was unfathomable for the APC to believe that the people of Oyo State would abandon the “oasis of peace, ease and good governance” under the Makinde government for “devastation, pain, sorrow, and tears.”
Rather than talk about state capture, the Oyo PDP said it would have expected the APC-led Federal Government to preoccupy itself with how to ease the burden imposed on Nigerians through their alleged wrong policies.
Speaking with our correspondent, Makinde, through his Chief Press Secretary, Sulaimon Olanrewaju, said the party spoke his mind.
On his part, Adeleke in a statement signed by his media aide, Olawale Rasheed, said the APC National Chairman’s position contrasted sharply with Tinubu’s democratic credentials.
Similarly, the PDP Deputy National Youth Leader, Timothy Osadolor, on Monday accused the ruling APC of manipulating the Ondo and Edo State governorship elections.
Osadolor also vowed that they would rally millions of Nigerians to oppose the APC’s attempt to take control of Oyo, Osun, and other states currently governed by the opposition party.
He said, “It is a wishful statement and an alarming statement at the same time that should be condemned by all well-meaning Nigerians. What happened in Edo and Ondo states are not elections, but manipulations to install their selected candidates. It is a power grab and very dangerous for our democracy.
The Chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party in Osun State, Dr. Tosin Odeyemi, also cautioned Ganduje against inciting political tension in the South-West with his recent comments.
Odeyemi described his remarks as reckless and unbecoming of an elder statesman, especially given the current economic hardships Nigerians are enduring under the current government.
Similarly, the National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Obiora Ifoh, called for restraint, saying such a statement can incite violence.
Ifoh also said he didn’t see the APC taking over the entire South-West either now or in the near future.
He said, “I sympathise with the APC National Chairman because his party has failed Nigerians. We have learned from past mistakes. The fear that the APC will take over the South-West is not there. Oyo State, as I talked to you, is not under the APC. Osun too is not under the ruling party’s control. So there is no way they can take over the whole of the South-West. It is not going to work.
“I want to also let you know that the hunger crisis in Nigeria today is felt more in the South-West, outside the North. So, I wonder what will be the incentive for anybody to ask this government to continue with the situation.”
