The governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde has explained in detail why the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) failed to win the presidential seat in 2023.
Makinde while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today said the party’s loss to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Bola Tinubu was self-inflicted.
He said, before the election, he went around regions of the country, especially the North to seek concerted efforts from leaders of the party for ways secure a win in 2023.
The governor, however, said his efforts were futile because party leaders were bent on doing things their way.
He said, “We went around the Northeast, the Northwest and the North Central to ask, how do we sell our mission all around the country?
“So, it was self-inflicted, there wouldn’t have been any G-5, the day after the convention, I went to my very good friend, Governor Fintiri, of Adamawa state and I said look, make this a unity ticket,” Makinde said.
He also noted that he had appealed to leaders of the party to get the now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike on the PDP’s ticket but they refused.
According to Makinde, having Wike on the ticket would have given the APC a run for their money.
“Get Governor Wike, let us appeal to him, let him be on that ticket, it would have been a stronger ticket to face the APC.
“But all the people around our candidate, they rejected it, we met with him in London and all the things we discussed with him there, he rejected it.
“And he came back and said, we’ve moved on. He said all these children where were they when we were forming the PDP? And we’ve seen the result now,” the governor said.
He further called on the party members and leaders to leave all that had happened in the past to ensure that they work together to attain victory in the 2027 election.
Also stating that there is no gain in dwelling on what had happened in the past, Makinde for PDP to defeat APC in 2027, there must be unity among members of the party and the leadership.
“And we don’t want to walk that path again. When we got to Bauchi, the first PDP governor’s forum meeting, under this dispensation, I made it clear to everyone that let us wipe the slate clean, let us not dwell in the past.
“We’ve seen the result and if you’re saying, some people did this in 2023 but others did it in 2015. PDP should have still been in power up until now but some people walked out of Eagle Square. We knew who they are and we lost power at the federal level due to that action,” Makinde added.
