OYO: APC plotting to lure Makinde to avert humiliation in 2023 governorship poll – Aide

THE Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, Taiwo Adisa, has refuted the widespread speculation that his principal is planning to dump the People’s Democratic Party for the All Progressives Congress.

Adisa said the speculation was a plot by the APC members to lure Makinde to their fold so as to avoid another humiliating defeat in 2023 governorship poll.

Adisa said the APC was aware that Makinde is a formidable candidate and no member of the party is a match for him hence the desperation to lure him to their party.

The CPS, who said this in a statement today said that the plot to lure Makinde to the APC did not come as a surprise, saying the party was fascinated by Makinde’s achievements despite the challenges present.

The statement read in part, “One is not surprised that some elements in the APC are busy debating the possibility of Governor Makinde’s defection to the party.

“The unprecedented achievements the governor has recorded in a very short time, especially despite the Covid-19 pandemic, has thoroughly beaten their imagination such that they have concluded it is impossible to raise a candidate to contest against him in 2023.

“As a close watcher of the GSM magic, so to say, one cannot be surprised that the APC in Oyo State is really envious of the great attainments of Governor Makinde.

“However, rather than claim that Makinde wants to defect to the APC, the truth the APC elements should tell the world is that their party is attempting to lure the performing governor in order to avert a woeful performance against him in 2023.

“Contrary to the claims of the APC members that the governor has been soft against criticisms by its members, Governor Makinde has not bothered to respond to their baseless criticisms in recent times but has chosen to remain focused on service delivery.

“We also completely reject the claims that his desire to join the APC informed the “soft approach” to the farmers/herders’ crisis.

“Rather, the governor has remained on the side of the law and has always insisted that criminals, whichever tribe they belong, are our enemies and they must be fished out without undue ethnic profiling.

“So, the best thing the APC could come up with right now is to imagine a Makinde as a standard-bearer so he could serve as a surreptitious redemption for the years of locust the party had inflicted on the people of Oyo State.”