Seyi Makinde, a dogged and quiet fighter
The incumbent Oyo State governor, Mr. Seyi Makinde, is indeed a dogged and resilient fighter. He has won his second term bid and that victory indeed makes him a strategic fighter in politics.
Analyses didn’t really favour him ahead of the governorship election. Analysts said he had taken some steps including working for an opposition in the presidential election and having an axe to grind with the state’s elder statesmen.
Makinde is a politician who seldom talks, but ex Ekiti State governor Ayodele Fayose, had once provided a precise description of the Oyo State governor. Talking is actually cheap, and the pacesetter state leader has demonstrated it.
After the presidential primary poll of the PDP, a crisis started. And the governor belonged to the five aggrieved governors who sternly opposed Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Their basic argument is that the south should produce the next president, summarily.
The issue tore the People’s Democratic Party across the states of the federation. Oyo State, which Makinde controls, isn’t exempted. In fact, the Oyo State chapter of the PDP spilt into two unequal parts. That could have been an albatross for the governor.
From another angle, some stakeholders including former Governor Rasheed Ladoja, Olopoenia,Gbolarumi and some others complained that Makinde didn’t do well in his treatment of the leaders. Reports said that they would convince the voters to withdraw their support for him.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress had just won all the three senatorial district seats, eight House of Representatives seats and the presidential election in Oyo State. The opposition party had become stronger and was ready to take back the state.
The state governor didn’t seem perturbed by the development around him. He looked unruffled as the governorship election was rather drawing much closer. And Makinde has become the second governor to win reelection in Oyo State.
The barriers were strong enough to stop him from reaching the record that the Late Abiola Ajimobi set in 2015. Makinde could have been engulfed in the multifaceted issues around him. However, he is a dogged and quiet fighter, who didn’t feel intimidated by any issue.
He convincingly and unprecedentedly beat Mr. Teslim Folarin and his traditional opponent Adebayo Adelabu in the race for the government secretariat at Agodi, Ibadan.
Other aggrieved PDP governors are being consumed by the crisis they started. Makinde is unscathed. He has emerged victorious and renewed the confidence the people of the state reposed in him.
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