Group accuses Makinde of funding Atiku’s presidential campaign to divide Tinubu’s votes, promised CoS
BY STEPHEN GBADAMOSI
The Save Oyo Movement (SOM) has accused the state governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, of deploying the state resources for funding the presidential campaign of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to divide the votes of President Bola Tinubu.
In the last two weeks, over $3 million (about N4 billion) was delivered to Atiku in cash, the group alleged.
In a statement signed by its Coordinator, Comrade Akeem Oladiti, on Sunday, the group alleged that Governor Makinde was promised the position of Chief of Staff (Cos) by Atiku, adding that funds were being channeled to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate by the Oyo State governor through an Abuja-based Bureau De Change operator and a notable member of the ADC from Ondo State.
The group chided Governor Makinde for “carrying his anger over the rejection of his ministerial nominee, Bimbo Adekanmbi, to the extreme level of wasting the state’s resources on Atiku Abubakar, just to get at President Tinubu.”
Recall that Makinde confirmed that he nominated the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) governorship candidate in Oyo State, Adekanmbi, for the state ministerial slot, but the President rejected his nominee and appointed Adebayo Adelabu instead.
The SOM, which also described the governor’s announcement that N6 billion compensation would be paid to property owners affected by the Ibadan Circular Road project as an afterthought, said only a wicked government would render people homeless first before thinking about paying compensation.
The group described Makinde’s promise to spend a single term of four years, if elected president in 2027, as a “beer parlour joke,” noting that the governor told journalists by himself when he opened his campaign office in Abuja that he knew he could not win, and that he was only contesting to create an impression.
“How can a man who knows that he cannot win an election and only spending public funds to frustrate President Tinubu’s reelection, just because his ministerial nominee was rejected and also targeting the position of Chief of Staff, if Atiku wins be talking about spending one term as president? Is it president of Ikolaba in Ibadan?” it queried.
The SOM vowed that it would ensure that Makinde “is made to account for every kobo belonging to Oyo State that he is wasting on his arrangee presidential contest.”
