1st March, 2023
By Akeem Abas
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Committee (PCC) says it has no standing agreement with Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State in respect of the March 11 governorship election as being speculated.
A member of the committee, Nike Ajagbe, told newsmen on Wednesday in Ibadan that there was no agreement between Makinde and Sen. Bola Tinubu, the President-elect.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ajagbe was reacting to news emanating from the meeting between the governor and the aggrieved candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
Makinde was said to have told the aggrieved candidates, who lost last Saturday’s National Assembly election to APC, that he had agreed with the president-elect that he would defect to the APC after the election, which Tinubu supported.
Ajagbe said that the visit of the campaign team had nothing to do with the endorsement of the governor.
She said the president-elect was a party man who could not joke with the success of his party across the country, especially the South-West, which is regarded as his stronghold.
Ajagbe said that it was in the programme of the campaign committee to visit all the opposition governors whenever they were in their state for campaign.
She said that nobody should see such visit as an endorsement, but a privilege to host a widely accepted presidential candidate.
Ajagbe said that being the governor of the state, the president-elect only visited Makinde as he did to other opposition governors whenever he visited their states.
She cited the example of the River Governor and other state governors where the president-elect visited him before proceeding with his campaigns.
Ajagbe said that was part of the visit of the president-elect to Makinde and no agreement was reached between the campaign team and Makinde.
She said that after Tinubu left Makinde’s office he went straight to the ancient Mapo Hall to raise the hand of the party’s Governorship candidate, Sen. Teslim Folarin.
Ajagbe said people were surprised to read that the governor was claiming he had an agreement with the president-elect.
She said Makinde only urged the people of the state to vote for unifier of the country during the governorship debate in Ibadan.
Meanwhile, Folarin condemned Makinde for allegedly lavishing N500 million on the aggrieved PDP candidates and other stakeholders.
In a statement, the APC governorship candidate through his Media Aide, Yekeen Olaniyi, said Makinde had demonstrated that he has nothing to offer the good people of the state than spending lavishly to please his party men.
He urged the people to vote massively for APC in the March 11 governorship election and state assembly’s election, so as to maintain the same party both at the Federal and State levels.