Gov Makinde In Aso Villa To See Tinubu

Governor of Oyo State and one of the leaders of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Seyi Makinde is currently at the presidential villa to meet with President Bola Tinubu.

Governor Makinde arrived shortly after his colleague from Plateau state, Caleb Mutfwang, who recently dumped the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the ruling All Progressives Party, APC arrived the State House and proceeded straight to the president’s office.

The Oyo state governor was among the group of five PDP governors known as G5, who protested against the emergence of the 2023 PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and worked for President Bola in 2023 presidential elections.

The governors had maintained that going by the rotational arrangement in the PDP, it was the turn of the South to produce the president after the eight year rule of Muhammadu Buhari from the North.

Other members of the then G-5 are Nyesom Wike of Rivers, Samuel Ortom of Benue, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia.

However, there is a crack between Governor Makinde and Wike who is now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

Makinde in a recent interview explained that the rift began after Wike allegedly told President Tinubu during a meeting that he would “hold PDP” for the President ahead of the 2027 election, a statement Makinde said was made without the consent of other party stakeholders.

He said: “I was in a meeting with the President and Wike and a few others, and Wike said to the President that I will hold PDP for you against 2027,” Makinde said. “So, we got up, and I asked Wike, did we agree to this?”

Makinde noted that while Wike is entitled to support Tinubu’s re-election bid, other members of the party also have the right to protect the PDP and oppose any move that could weaken democratic pluralism.

“The real issue is that Wike would like to support the President in 2027, that’s fine, it’s within his right to do that,” he said.

“But also some of us that want democracy to survive in Nigeria, we don’t drift into a one-party state, and we want to ensure that PDP survives, he should also allow us to do our own thing,” he added.

The governor stressed that President Tinubu did not ask Wike to make such a commitment on his behalf, describing the action as unsolicited.

“The President did not ask him; do this for me, he was the one who volunteered that I would do this,” Makinde said.

He added that efforts to persuade Wike to reconsider his stance were unsuccessful, prompting his decision to distance himself from the move. After he didn’t back off, I told him from that day that I would never be part of this,” he said. Makinde concluded by affirming his independence in political decision-making ahead of 2027.

“That is why I will never support the President for 2027. Wike can support him; it is within his right, but it is also within my right within the political space to determine who I will support or what I will do in 2027,” he added.

At the time of filing this report, the agenda of the meeting between Tinubu and Makinde was not made public.