Makinde was reacting to Ganduje’s statement that Osun and Oyo States are APC’s next target after his party won Ondo State’s gubernatorial election
By Kehinde Okeowo
Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde has told the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, to jettison any idea that his party will capture Oyo State just like it did in Ondo and Edo States.
He was reacting to the former Kano State governor’s statement that Osun and Oyo states are APC’s next target after his party emerged victorious in the just concluded Ondo State governorship election.
Speaking with journalists after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the APC candidate, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, as Ondo State governor-elect, Ganduje said, “Our next target in the South West Geopolitical zone is Osun and Oyo states. You know we are good at hitting the target. We will do what is possible to bring them into the fold so that we can have more political opportunity in the South West Geopolitical zone.”
Reacting to his comment on Monday,
through his Chief Press Secretary, Dr Sulaimon Olanrewaju, Makinde said the government and the Oyo PDP will not surrender the state to the APC.
He added that the Oyo governor aligned with a statement by the acting Publicity Secretary of the Oyo PDP, Micheal Ogunsina, who earlier tackled Ganduje over the takeover plot.
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PDP in the statement said, “It is a shame that instead of easing people’s burden, what preoccupies the mind of the APC and its leadership are the capture of states and the abduction of people’s destinies. Where then is the difference between what the APC does and what forest bandits do?
“Our people are tired of a party and people that are progressive only in name. Ganduje and his cohorts who want to extend the pains of APC to Oyo State should stop plotting against God and the people. We reject the curse from Ganduje and his APC; our God, who hates the wicked, rejects them too.
“Our state has been an oasis of peace, ease and good governance in the midst of the ruins wreaked by the APC across the country. We do not intend to surrender our freedom to predators. And we will not.
“Perhaps we should let the APC people know that no sensible person in Oyo State wants to be inflicted with greater pains than what the people bear now from APC’s misrule.
“A ruling party with a conscience would, by now, be working very hard to repair the damage it has done to the economy of our country and the finances of the people. But, because APC cannot give what it does not have, it is not concerned at all about the people’s plight. Its politics is solely about grabbing power, capturing states and snatching people’s joy.”
Corroborating PDP’s position, Makinde noted that his party spoke his mind, adding that Ganduje’s statement is a “wishful thinking”.