From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
A pro-democracy group, the League of Progressives for Good Governance in Oyo State on Wednesday rated the three leading governorship candidates in the state and passed summary verdict on them.
The three leading candidates, according to the group, are Governor Seyi Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Teslim Folarin of All Progressives Congress (APC), and Chief Adebayo Adelabu of the Accord party. The group, however faulted Makinde, knocked Folarin, and endorsed Adelabu.
The group made the disclosure during a press conference, held at the Press Centre, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Iyaganku, Ibadan.
The text of the press conference was read by the group’s General Secretary, Lekan Adeyemo, on behalf of the group. The leader of the group, Chief Kunle Sanda, was also in attendance.
His words: “We have got to make a choice through our votes this Saturday and it should be stated that the incumbent governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, who is seeking a reelection has nothing more to offer us in Oyo State, as every patriotic citizen of the state has seen his apparent limitation in term of capacity and capability to deliver on his mandate.”
The group also described Folarin of APC as ‘an interloper in the progressive circle’, alleging that he might dump APC and return to PDP, on which platform he was elected to Senate twice in 2003 and 2007, and also contested the 2015 governorship poll in the state.
But on Adelabu, the group said he is the candidate to beat, adding that he has the progressive ideology to make Oyo State make progress. The group emphasized the reasons voters in the state, should vote massively for Adelabu, especially based on his vast experience in corporate governance and development, as a former deputy governor of Central Bank of Nigeria.
On the reigns of endorsement for Makinde and Folarin ahead of this Saturday’s gubernatorial poll, the group said:
“Another sad development in our body polity today is the ongoing series of alignments, realignments and endorsement of Makinde and Folarin by some political parties and politicians, akin to the transfer season in the ever-exciting world of soccer.
“These characters who are falling over one another to endorse and adopt these two candidates are not being motivated by the love of the state but by the pecuniary benefits, essentially financial, which they stand to gain through their macabre dance. If our dear state will witness growth and development as it did during the Ajimobi administration, the likes of Seyi Makinde and Teslim Folarin must be stopped, notwithstanding their desperation to mount the saddle from May 29, 2023.”