Mixed Grill in Oyo APC Over Tinubu's Deal With G5 Governors
By Lanre Olaleye
Mixed reaction and uncertainty may have crept into the Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the party's presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu's deal with the PDP G5 Governors.
This comes on the heels of a report that the G5 governor's led by Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike met and struck a deal in London to endorse and support the APC candidate ahead of the Presidential Election in February 2023.
In exchange for their support, the G5 Governors reportedly demanded APC and Tinubu support their respective individual political interests in their states.
As part of the deal, Asiwaju is to deflate his party’s campaign in the respective states to accommodate the interests of the G5.
Therefore, the APC is to concede positions of G5 interests as follows: Rivers- Governorship seat , Abia- Abia South Senate, Enugu-Gov Ugwuanyi Senate seat, Benue- Gov Ortom Senate seat, Oyo- Governorship seat for Makinde.”
Tinubu is said to have agreed in principle to the demands of the dissident PDP governors as a major boost to his quest to win the 2023 presidential election.The development has, however, attracted mixed reaction within the ranks of the APC in Oyo State as stakeholders and members of the party are sharply divided over prospect of conceding the governorship position to the incumbent Seyi Makinde who is seeking re-election against the APC candidate, Sen. Teslim Folarin.
"It is sickening that our own candidate would be sacrificed for Asiwaju's presidential election when we all know that with or without Makinde's support, Asiwaju's total victory is assured in Oyo.
"Makinde is holding on to Tinubu as a last straw because he knows his time is up as a governor because all indices do not support his re-election bid," says a dependable source who pleaded anonymity.
However, a member of the South-west Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) for Tinubu/Shettima confided in our reporter that the deal with the Makinde may turn out to be a smart one by Tinubu.
According to our source, the reality on ground does not give hope of an eventual victory for the APC candidate in the governorship election following the acrimony that greeted the governorship primary in the state.
"As at today, the party has been divided into three factions. One is led by the party candidate, Teslim Folarin. While remnants of the Accord Party who collapsed into the APC are on their own and the legacy parties: Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party( ANPP) that came together to form APC-they consider Folar
Despite the intervention of the leadership of the party in the state and at the national level to bring everybody together, the impasse among contending forces has remained unsettled.