…APC Spokesperson says Party didn’t endorse Makinde’s re-election***
Labour Party (LP) in Oyo State on Sunday in Ibadan adopted Gov. Seyi Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as its candidate for the March 11 governorship election.
LP chairman, Mr. Sadiq Atayese, told a news conference that the state’s Working Committee of the party believed in the emergence of Makinde, a candidate with character, competence and capacity in the interest of the citizens.
He said, however, that the electorate should vote for LP candidates at the state assembly elections.
“Going by the results of the Feb. 25 presidential election and political realities in our state, it is obvious that no individual party can win the coming gubernatorial election single-handedly.
“The main priority should be to ensure that citizens win through the election of a candidate that best serves their collective interests.
“Against this backdrop, the right thing now is for parties and their candidates to form alliances with candidates of like ideology,’’ he said.
According to Atayese, LP in Oyo State has decided to work with the candidate whose ideology tallies with its own in terms of security of lives and property, infrastructural development, food security, education and human capital development.
“It is of note that the present PDP administration under Gov. Makinde has presented its scorecard from the health sector with the provisions of Primary Healthcare Centres in every ward to security and others.
“There is no doubt that his governance ideas in the establishment of the Park Management System which other states now emulate have made him a leader with uncommon innovation.
“From our evaluation as a party, Makinde has done well and we know that continuous development of a state is a function of stability in governance,’’ he said.
Atayese stressed that there had been meaningful development in Oyo State in the last four years; hence, it was only logical that the good work should continue.
“We have the responsibility to maintain the nobility of our heritage and we the citizens have to stand by it.
Pic from left: Deputy Chairman Oyo South Labour Party (LP), Mr Sola Ayodele; Chairman, LP Oyo State, Sadeeq Atayese; Deputy Chairman, Oyo North, LP, Alhaji Gbaniyu Salawu; at a Press Conference by Chairman LP Oyo State declaring support for Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State.
“We took a thorough assessment of the various governorship candidates for the March 11 election in terms of character, competence, capacity and compassion for the people.
“Gov. Makinde excelled over the others; therefore, LP in Oyo state has decided to use its structure throughout the 33 local government areas to support his re-election for another four years of giant development,’’ Atayese stressed.
In another development however, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State says there is no group within its fold that endorsed Gov. Seyi Makinde’s re-election bid.
This is contained in a statement signed by the APC Publicity Secretary in the state, Mr. Olawale Sadare, on Sunday in Ibadan.
The APC was reacting to a media report, which claimed that some pro-Tinubu Support Groups, had ditched the party’s governorship candidate, Sen. Teslim Folarin, for Makinde.
The groups namely Southern for Tinubu BAT Democracy, Yoruba Campaign for BAT, and Tinubu Campaign Movement had allegedly endorsed Makinde’s re-election bid.
Sadare said the groups were not known to the party, adding that all the known pro-Tinubu Support Groups were registered with the party.
“First and foremost, we would like to state that there are no pro-Tinubu Groups registered with Oyo APC by the names mentioned above.
“The names mentioned in the fallacious news report are fictitious.
“The latest fake news came from the same unscrupulous elements who promoted one non-existing Alhaji Bashir Adeola as Oyo APC Chieftain purportedly supporting the governor,” he said.
According to him, APC is alerting members of the public, particularly voters in the state to be wary of the antics of these merchants of lies and propaganda who are being sponsored.
“They are being sponsored to promote fake endorsement of the governor’s second term ambition with a view to mislead the electorate,” Sadare said.
He described the report of such endorsement as “a manifestation of cowardice, undue pressure and desperation”.
Sadare said that no reasonable politician in the state would trust Makinde again in spite of the fate allegedly suffered at his hands by those who assisted him to become governor in 2019.
He said: “As a serious political party, our focus is on the March 11 Governorship and House of Assembly election where we are poised to better the feat we recorded on Feb. 25.
“We would not allow any confused desperado to distract us and it is at this juncture that we are appealing to the good people of the state to be resolute.
“They should stand their ground and be ready to prevent Oyo state from falling into opposition again under Tinubu’s presidency,” the APC spokesperson said.
