Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, last week disclosed the reasons behind his fallout with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, he said his disagreement with the FCT minister was centred around party discipline and the need to uphold the rules of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Makinde emphasised that the PDP should be a multiparty democracy, allowing Nigerians to have options when choosing their leaders.
Earlier, Wike had accused Makinde of orchestrating a breach of trust and betrayal of their agreements.
Ironically, the same Wike and Makinde were key members of the G-5 governors within the PDP that worked against the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 general election, Atiku Abubakar.
The group, formed in 2022, included Wike, Makinde, Samuel Ortom (Benue), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu). Their campaign against Atiku and their agitation for the resignation of the then National Chairman of the party, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, weakened the main opposition party and facilitated the victory of APC.
However, their united front eventually crumbled over disagreements on the party’s presidential ticket and leadership.
Ahead of the 2027 presidential election, Wike has said that the PDP’s presidential candidate party must emerge from the south otherwise it won’t be acceptable to him and his loyalists in the party.
With the support of the APC-led federal government, Wike has become so powerful that he gives PDP conditions.
However, many would argue that the humiliation received by Makinde from Wike and his camp serves the Oyo State governor right.
When he joined other members of the G-5 to build Wike, his fellow governor, to become strong politically and acquire the capacity to destroy the PDP and ensure that it lost the 2023 presidential election, he did not know that the day of reckoning would come.
And little did Makinde know that in no distant future, their actions will come back to haunt him.
Today, the consequences of his actions against the party are haunting him.
