A member of National Presidential Campaign Council in Oyo State, Alhaji Mikail Aborode Majekodunmi has debunked news that a member of G-5 and Oyo State Governor, Engr Seyi Makinde financed the Alhaji Atiku Abubakar recent campaign rally in Ibadan, the state capital.
It should be recalled that a former member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Diran Odeyemi said Governor Makinde financed Atiku’s rally in Ibadan, Oyo State, saying the Governor is not working against the interest of the party’s presidential candidate. Atiku Abubakar.
It should also be recalled that Makinde and Governors Nyesom Wike, Samuel Ortom, Okezie Ikpeazu, and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Rivers, Benue, Abia and Enugu States, respectively had resigned their membership of the PDP presidential Campaign Council in September 2022 in protest of Iyorchia Ayu’s continued stay as the national chairman of the party.
Led by Wike, the Governors insisted that Ayu should leave office following Atiku’s victory at the presidential primary in May 2022 to make room for regional balance in the distribution of national and party offices in line with the PDP constitution.
The aggrieved Governors, who formed the Integrity Group, were expected to name their preferred candidate this month but their inability to agree on a common choice has left them unable to declare their stand.
But reacting to Odeyemi’s claim, Alhaji Mikail Aborode Majekodunmi noted that Makinde has on many occasions proclaimed himself as political antagonist to PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
He recalled his statement made during an interview on Channels Television on Friday evening as one of the pointers that Makinde is not in support of Atiku’s presidential ambition.
According to Aborode, he said during the interview that he didn’t attend Atiku’s campaign rally in Ibadan because he had already pulled out, saying he pulled out of the Atiku Campaign Council to send a significant message to the leadership of the party.
On who financed the campaign rally, it is a public knowledge that Atiku Abubakar and his Campaign Organisation in Oyo State released money for the rally’s logistics in Ibadan. Makinde only provided an enabling peaceful environment and not financial backing. And as you know in Nigeria, the security is provided and personnel are being directed on what to do centrally.
“It has been written in newspapers and online platforms how the money was disbursed for the running of the campaign rally. I wonder where Diran Odeyemi got his information that Governor Seyi Makinde financed it.
“As a member of National presidential Campaign Council for Atiku Abubakar, I will like to correct this misleading information that what Diran Odeyemi said while speaking with Saturday PUNCH is false and aimed to distract members of the public from nothing but the truth”, Aborode revealed.
Packaged by Mayowa Owogbade
