THE Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the weekend took a swipe at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Mr. Seyi Makinde, over his recent comments that cast aspersions on the person of Governor Abiola Ajimobi.
Makinde had accused Governor Ajimobi of using arm-twisting tactics to install his anointed candidate as governor, by forcing the Chairman of the Oyo State Signage and Advertisement Agency (OYSAA), Pastor Yinka Adepoju, to resign his position.
The PDP candidate expressed disappointment with the desperate moves of the governor to ensure his candidate wins the election. He also accused Governor Ajimobi of threatening the beneficiaries of the Federal Government N-Power Programme to vote for the APC or the programme would be stopped, saying the threat is a cheap and desperate blackmail.
But, the APC waved aside what it described as the PDP candidate’s vituperations and urged the people to ignore him as a ranting politician.
The APC said the recent statements credited to Makinde showed that he is a frustrated man who should not be dignified with response anytime he vents his uncoordinated vituperations.
The APC Publicity Secretary, Dr AbdulAzeez Olatunde, in a statement, urged Makinde to focus on issues, rather than on personalities, adding that his comments proves that he is very naïve about public governance.
Dr. Olatunde added that the PDP candidate’s comment on the recent rally organised by the beneficiaries of the N-Power programme was unexpected from a person positioning himself for the exalted seat of a governor. He addedg that an intelligent person will know that the PDP can never initiate, manage or sustain such a laudable and beneficial programme.
The APC stressed that rather than Makinde condemning the APC for the rally, he should rather urge beneficiaries of the failed Sure-P and YouWin programmes of the PDP to organise a similar rally for the party.
Olatunde said: “It is a pity the best hand the PDP can put forward for the Oyo governorship election is a novice in public governance. Rather than Makinde to engage on issues based campaign and tell the citizens his plans, he is busy displaying his ignorance with the statements credited to him.
“Such an individual should always be ignored but in politics, one should always give them a dose of their drug. An intelligent person would have known that an election is not won by billboards. We wonder why we will feel intimidated by Mr. Makinde’s billboard. He had similar billboards in the 2015 election and still came a distant fifth. We do not need any soothsayer to predict that Makinde cannot fair better in the 2019 election.
“It is understandable that his perennial losses have led to frustration, because if not, it is only a novice that would complain about the N-Power rally which was organised by the beneficiaries themselves. To show their enthusiasm, majority of these N-Power beneficiaries painted their faces before the rally which was also used to launch a programme tagged Build the Future.
(The Nation)
