Peoples Democratic Party chieftains, including former Federal Capital Territory (State) Minister Jumoke Akinjide and former Mines and Steel Development Minister Wole Oyelese, campaigned for the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in Ibadan, Oyo State’s capital, on Wednesday.
Former Minister of State for FCT, Hon. Olajumoke Akinjide; former Oyo Deputy Governor, Hazeem Gbolarumi; and Director Special Duty, PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Femi Babalola (Jogor) were among those who campaigned for the former vice president under the auspices of National Mandate Group, Oyo state chapter.
Party veterans, youths, women, and mobilizers from around the state were spotted marching with banners and advocating for Atiku ahead of the February 25, 2023, presidential election.
Meanwhile, state Governor Seyi Makinde and his supporters were conspicuously absent from the event organized to raise support for the former vice president.
Makinde and his supporters were also absent from the pre-Atiku Freedom March press conference conducted on Tuesday at the state Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Iyaganku, Ibadan.
The Atiku campaign in Oyo coincided with the G5 governors’ visit to Oyo for Makinde’s reelection campaign inauguration on Thursday (today). Governors Nyesom Wike, Samuel Ortom, Seyi Makinde, Okezie Ikpeazu, and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Rivers, Benue, Oyo, Abia, and Enugu States are among the PDP G5 governors.
Efforts by Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, to encourage the G5 governors to embrace peace may have failed.
Wike, Ortom, Makinde, Ikpeazu, and Ugwuanyi, as well as certain political heavyweights from the South, had split with the PDP presidential candidate over his claimed failure to persuade the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to retire after Atiku, a northerner, won the party’s presidential ticket.
However, during the campaign, Akinjide told reporters that Atiku was a pan-Nigerian who would lead Nigeria out of its current socioeconomic and political issues.
“In Oyo, we shall campaign for Atiku on the basis of merit and commitment to our great party. There is no schism in the PDP. It’s a battle for space. So, I don’t think the public should be concerned because the day they put on makeup, they’ll be on TV laughing, back-slapping, and calling each other brothers, and you’ll wonder why you wasted so much energy on it.
“Let us address what concerns 200 million Nigerians: Atiku’s five-point strategy to recover and restore Nigeria.
“Our presidential candidate promises to unite Nigeria, secure the country, build a prosperous economy, restructure and devolve power to the federating units, and create an education system that allows our people to compete nationally and globally, and these are core issues that the Nigerian people are interested in.”
“On Thursday (today), we will have the Governor’s own rally and inauguration,” Akinjide said of the G5 governors’ visit. We all want to attend, but I have a question: What will we say if some of tomorrow’s visitors speak out against the PDP or Atiku? No to their nonsense! We are brave people, and we must show it tomorrow.”
