Facts have emerged as to why Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State rejected to lead the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential candidate campaign council as Director General (DG).
Governor Makinde, according to sources close to him, politely turned down Atiku’s offer on the premise that he has his own re-election battle to contend with and he does not want any distraction given that he has two formidable challengers in the persons of APC candidate, Sen, Teslim Folarin, and Accord Party Candidate, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu.
Adelabu was Oyo State APC Governorship candidate in the 2019 election and a former deputy governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) while Folarin was PDP governorship candidate in the state in the 2015 election.
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Some party sources also revealed that Governor Makinde might have used his own re-election as a perfect alibi to reject the Atiku Campaign DG job and that his main reason migh be due to his relationship with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State who is still aggrieved over how Atiku side-stepped him to pick Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as his Vice Presidential candidate.
Governor Wike was hoping to be picked as the running mate to Atiku having been recommended by Governor Samuel Ortom’s Committee of the party.
According to the source, “Makinde is still very close to Wike and he does not want to offend his friend who is still bitter about what he considered shabby treatment by the PDP standard-bearer.
“Wike believes he is the biggest investor in PDP post 2015 when the party was defeated by the APC. Makinde does not want to hurt Wike,” said another party source.
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Another reason why Governor Makinde was said not to be enthusiastic about leading Atiku’s campaign as DG is the PDP’s candidate inconsistency in similar matters.
Governor Makinde is rankled that in the build-up to the 2019 election, Atiku first announced the former Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, as the campaign DG.
While Daniel was still settling into the job with the appointment of his former aide, Segun Sowunmi as the campaign Spokesperson, Atiku ditched him and appointed former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, to take over from Daniel as the DG.
Reasons for replacing Daniel with Saraki were never made public till date.