Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has declared that the people of the state will vote for a presidential candidate whose election will promote equity, justice, and unity of Nigeria.
Makinde said his administration believes in putting the people first, stating that “political players will come and go, but the country will remain”.
The governor is one of the aggrieved governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, who have since been at loggerheads with the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, over his alleged refusal to prevail on the party’s National Chairman, Sen. Iyorchia Ayu, to resign after the former Vice President, a northerner, clinched the party’s presidential ticket in May 2022.
The aggrieved governors, known as G5, have insisted that it is unfair for the main opposition party to have the national chairman and presidential candidate from the northern region of the country ahead of the 2023 general election, stressing that Ayu should resign his position for justice, equity, and fairness in the PDP.
However, Makinde, while speaking when he received the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, who visited the governor on the sidelines of the party’s campaign rally in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on Thursday, said they would choose Nigeria’s unity if they have to choose between their individual aspiration and the unity of the country.
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The governor urged Tinubu to feel free to campaign in Oyo State, saying everything has been done to ensure the event was peaceful and hitch-free.
He said the group (G5) monitored the APC presidential primaries that produced Tinubu as the party’s candidate and commended the principled position taken by the northern governors.
Noting that the northern governors reckoned that power must return to the South in 2023, Makinde said the group would support a southern candidate.
“There has to be inclusiveness by all sections of the country in power-sharing if the country must progress.
“If the country does not survive, how can anyone aspire to be anything in that country,” Governor Makinde said.
On his part, Tinubu thanked Makinde for the warm reception, saying he came to accord him the respect that he deserves as the chief executive of the state.
“I cannot come to Oyo State to campaign for votes without visiting you to pay my respect to you as a governor, leader, and an Omoluabi,” Tinubu stated.
After the visit, the APC presidential candidate and his entourage met with some traditional rulers from the South-West zone before proceeding to Mapo Hall where a mammoth crowd had waited for them to address the party’s supporters.
On Tinubu’s entourage were Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun; former APC Interim Chairman, Bisi Akande; and former Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi; among others.
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