ABUJA – Governor of Oyo State and a key leader of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Seyi Makinde, is currently at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, for a meeting with President Bola Tinubu.
Governor Makinde arrived at the State House shortly after Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, who recently defected from the PDP to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and proceeded straight to the President’s office.
Makinde was one of the five PDP governors, popularly known as the G-5, who opposed the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as the PDP’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections and subsequently worked against the party in favour of then APC candidate, Bola Tinubu.
The G-5 governors had argued that, based on the PDP’s zoning and rotational arrangement, power should have remained in the South after the eight-year tenure of former President Muhammadu Buhari from the North.
Other members of the G-5 include former Rivers State Governor and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike; former Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom; former Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; and former Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu.
However, a rift has since developed between Governor Makinde and Wike.
In a recent interview, Makinde disclosed that the disagreement stemmed from a meeting in which Wike allegedly told President Tinubu that he would “hold PDP” for him ahead of the 2027 presidential election—without the consent of other party stakeholders.
I was in a meeting with the President and Wike and a few others, and Wike said to the President that I will hold PDP for you against 2027,” Makinde said. “So, we got up and I asked Wike, did we agree to this?”
Makinde emphasized that while Wike has the right to support President Tinubu’s re-election bid, other PDP members equally have the right to protect the party and uphold democratic pluralism.
The real issue is that Wike would like to support the President in 2027. That is within his right,” Makinde said. “But some of us want democracy to survive in Nigeria. We don’t want to drift into a one-party state, and we want to ensure that PDP survives.”
He further stressed that President Tinubu did not solicit Wike’s pledge.
“The President did not ask him to do this. He volunteered it himself,” Makinde said.
According to the Oyo State governor, efforts to persuade Wike to withdraw the statement failed, prompting his decision to distance himself from the move.
After he didn’t back off, I told him from that day that I would never be part of this,” he added.
Makinde concluded by reaffirming his independence in political decision-making ahead of the 2027 elections.
That is why I will never support the President in 2027. Wike can support him; it is within his right. It is also within my right to determine who I will support or what I will do in 2027.”
As of the time of filing this report, the agenda of the meeting between President Tinubu and Governor Makinde had not been disclosed.
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