Elder Wole Oyelese, the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a former Minister of Mines and Steel Development, encouraged Governor Seyi Makinde on Thursday to begin openly supporting the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
In an interview with journalists in Ibadan, Elder Oyelese stated that it would be unacceptable for Makinde to maintain the party’s governorship ticket while working against the presidential candidate.
The PDP leader asserted, “The bottom line is that Makinde should publicly support Atiku or else, it will be assumed that he has made a statement consistent with what the G-5 governors have been saying, and this is harmful for his second term ambition.
” The former minister said Makinde should fully retrace his steps to where he made it to the top in order to realise his second term ambition, adding the he needs Atiku to win the second term and not the other way round.
“All PDP members in Oyo state, including more than 95% of Mankinde’s appointees have been working for months and will vote for Atiku in the February 25th election. Makinde lacks the capacity to upturn the popular sentiment in Oyo state which is in support of Atiku,” he said.
Oyelese added that, “anyone who is doubting should recall what happened during his flag-off at Mapo when the people were chorusing Atiku’s name in the presence of the G-5 governors. Even Wike was silenced by the crowd of Atiku supporters and the programme came to an abrupt end.
“I see the current situation as an act of treachery when you belong to a political party and you are working against the presidential candidate of that party. It is Seyi that needs Atiku and not Atiku that needs him, because Oyo state people have made up their minds to support Atiku.” The PDP leader emphasised further.
“I can bet it with anybody that even in Gov Makinde’s government, majority of the political appointees, 95 per cent of them are working for Atiku. So, the game is up, he should rescind his decision. A situation where he is campaigning and he is not mentioning Atiku is unacceptable to us.”
