Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde
Eko Hot Blog reports that Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, says he missed the presidential campaign flag-off of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) because he has been “busy” campaigning for “everybody.”
Recall that the PDP flagged off its campaign in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Monday.
The event witnessed several prominent party members, including presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and vice presidential candidate, Ifeanyi Okowa, but five governors were conspicuously absent.
They are Governor Makinde, Governor Nyesome Wike of Rivers State, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, and Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State.
The governors have been at loggerheads with the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, whom they have asked to resign. They argue that it’s unfair that a northerner leads the party and another is the presidential candidate.
Earlier, the governors and their allies pulled out of the PDP presidential campaign council.
“The published presidential campaign council list translates to putting the cart before the horse; the pertinent issue remains the Ayu leadership,” they had said.
“We, therefore, resolve that senator Iyorchia Ayu resigns as the national chairman for an acting chairman of southern Nigeria extraction. We resolved not to participate in the campaign council in whatever capacity until the resignation of Dr Iyorchia Ayu.”
The governors’ absence from Monday’s campaign flag-off, therefore, spurred speculations that all was not well in the opposition party.
On Wednesday, Makinde told reporters that he needed to be in Oyo, not Uyo, to help the party.
The governor, who spoke after the swearing-in of Olukayode Ariwoola as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), noted that he was putting votes together.
“I have been busy at home in Oyo state campaigning for everybody. Uyo is not where I need to put the votes together. It is in Oyo; so I stayed in Oyo,” he said.
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