By Kemi Olaitan
Former Minister of Power and Steel, Elder Wole Oyelese, has said the second term victory of Governor Seyi Makinde, of Oyo state lies in the success of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Abubakar Atiku.
Oyelese, while speaking in Ibadan, the state capital, enjoined Makinde to fully retrace his steps to where he made it to the top in order to realise his second term ambition.
It would be recalled that Governor Makinde, who is one of the governors under the auspices of G-5, had continued to insist that they will not support Atiku unless the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu resigns his position.
Oyelese, who is a chieftain of PDP in the state has, however, revealed that it is Makinde who needs Atiku to win the second term and not the other way round.
While urging Makinde to rescind his decision, he insisted that all PDP members in the state, including more than 95 per cent of Mankinde’s appointees, have been working for months to vote for Atiku in the presidential election.
The former minister described the situation where Makinde was still campaigning without a mention of Atiku as betrayal, especially after the state party chairman appeared at the Mapo Hall presidential rally ostensibly on his instruction, noting that Makinde really has nothing to offer whoever Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State eventually decides to support in the presidential election.
He however said the leaders of the party loyal to Atiku are not surprised about this attitude, adding that a situation where Governor Makinde will be holding on to the governorship ticket of the party while working against the presidential candidate of the party was unacceptable.
While insisting that the credit heaped on the governor for the massive crowd at the presidential rally was misplaced, Oyelese said any such praise was a disservice to the leaders of the party loyal to Atiku who have been working assiduously for months mobilising for the presidential candidate.
He pointed out that the truth was that over 90 per cent of the crowd at the presidential rally were true lovers of Atiku’s cause and mobilised by his loyalists.
He insisted that the loyalists of Atiku truly know themselves in Oyo State politics, stressing that unknown to many, even all the local government party chairmen were withdrawn from the presidential rally on the orders of the governor.
According to him, “Makinde lacks the capacity to upturn the popular sentiment in Oyo State which is in support of Atiku. Anyone who is doubting that 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 Makinde that needs Atiku and not Atiku that needs him, because Oyo State people have made up their minds to support Atiku.
“I can bet it with anybody that even in Makinde’s government, the majority of the political appointees, indeed 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.”
