The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has advised Governor Seyi Makinde and his supporters to stop claiming an endorsement from the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, ahead of the March 11 governorship election.
This is contained in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, on Thursday in Ibadan.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that there have been insinuations from the Government House that Mr Makinde played a key role in the victory recorded by Tinubu in the state on 25 February.
The APC spokesperson described the alleged claims by Mr Makinde that he had been endorsed by Tinubu as “an height of desperation and insincerity”.
Mr Sadare queried the rationale behind the insinuations that Mr Makinde delivered all three senatorial and eight House of Representatives seats to the APC with two pending.
“Those behind the wicked rumour are some unscrupulous elements whose motive is to mislead the public and attract undue sympathy from certain quarters outside the state.
“To set the record straight, Oyo PDP did its best to secure victory for all its candidates at the 25 February election.
“But, they failed simply because Oyo APC was far ahead of them in terms of preparedness, human resources and strategy.
“We, therefore, challenge Makinde or any of his agents to present any evidence of the purported agreement or deal between them and Tinubu, if they are truthful,” he said.
Mr Sadare said the only thing they were armed with was the courtesy visit the APC presidential candidate paid to the Agodi Government Secretariat on the day of the presidential rally.
He said that such a courtesy visit happened because a statesman, like Mr Tinubu, could not pay an official visit to any state without paying a courtesy visit to the sitting governor.
“The truth of the matter is that the five aggrieved PDP Governors were naive and lacking in political strategies.
“Gov. Wike was the only one among them who was courageous enough to assist Tinubu’s cause.
“Wike did not do this at the expense of his PDP as all the National Assembly candidates of the APC failed in his state.
“In the case of Oyo, there was no report of any serving political office holder or appointee of the PDP who mobilised for Tinubu or any other APC candidate at the poll,” he said.
Mr Sadare said that the PDP candidates were able to win in about four federal constituencies and such indicated that they approached the election with all seriousness.
He said, “the lies about a deal with Tinubu can’t fly because the president-elect is a core progressive and democrat who can never engage in anti-party activities.”
According to Mr Sadare, Teslim Folarin, if elected governor, would ensure prompt and full payment of salaries and other entitlements due to the public servants and pensioners. He will make life easier for all and sundry.
“If Governor Makinde had done well in the last four years, he would not have to be paranoid to face the electorate again as he seeks re-election,” Oyo APC said.
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