Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has slammed Wole Oyelese, a former Minister of Power and Steel, for his comments on the Peoples Democratic Party crisis (PDP).
WITHIN NIGERIA reported that Oyelese had attacked Makinde for not attending a presidential campaign rally to solicit votes for the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Speaking to reporters, the PDP chieftain said Makinde needs Atiku to win re-election, and that the governor’s decision to skip the rally was risky.
Makinde responded to the comments on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, saying he was not surprised by Oyelese’s statement because he is no longer relevant in the state or the country.
The governor stated that it is Atiku who requires his support to win the state in next month’s election due to his administration’s accomplishments over the last three and a half years.
Makinde alluded to Oyelese’s alleged unpopularity, claiming that in Oyelese’s hometown of Erunmu, locals “wouldn’t even touch him with a long pole.”
The governor went on to call the former minister an “expired politician” and urged him to be objective in his analysis of the PDP crisis.
He said:
Elder Oyelese is older than me and I will not disrespect him. But I think he basically stood logic on its head. It is the other way round.
If our candidate will need to win in Oyo State, I will have to campaign for him because PDP in Oyo State is riding on the achievements that we’ve been able to make these three plus years.
So, if he’s looking for a ministerial position – I don’t think anyone will give him a ministerial position anyway because the last time he had the opportunity, he didn’t do well at all.”
So, you have all of these so-called expired politicians and then they go out there and say, ‘We’ve done this. We can do this.’
I respect the opponents; I respect some of the challenges that we have to face for this election. But we are realists. We are driven by data and logic. We demonstrated it before.