Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has commenced secret meetings with members of his cabinet and key stakeholders of the Allied People’s Movement (APM) in a bid to revive the party, which has suffered a wave of defections in the last two months.
The tension in Governor Makinde’s political camp is said to have stemmed from the latest defections by high-profile politicians in Ogbomoso Zone of the state, which threw the camp into disarray.
The decampees have been joining the All Progressives Congress (APC), thereby swelling the party (APC)’s ranks in Oyo State.
Apart from the Chief of Staff, Hon.Segun Ogunwuyi, Alhaji Rasak Gbadegesin (Agbeti), Hon. Timothy Oyeniyi, Hon. Alabi Olateju, Hon. Isaiah Adegbite, Hon. Peter Oyetunji and Hon. Jimoh Sikiru, the APM chairman in Ogbomoso North, prominent political figures and local government representatives from Ogbomoso North, Ogbomoso South, Surulere and Ogo-Oluwa are the latest in what has become a major trend.
Prior to the current exit and defection into APC, the Budget and Economic Planning Commissioner Ayobami Oluwaseun Ojo and the ministry’s Special Adviser, Simeon Adegbola Oyeleke, resigned effective November 2. Ojo did not state a reason; Oyeleke said he was uncomfortable with the working environment and that it had become difficult to represent his people’s aspirations while serving in government.
Sunday Olugbenga Falana also resigned from the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC).
He thanked the governor for the opportunity to serve but did not publicly give a reason. Director-General, Due Process Office, Tara Adefope also resigned from the cabinet. Political figures who had left the governor’s camp also include the Chairman, Governor’s Advisory Council, Hosea Agboola (Alleluyah), former Deputy Governor and AmbassadorTaofeek ArapajaAlhaji Bisi Olopoeniyan. Alleluyah and Arapaja have since since found accommodation in the APC.
Key strategists, former political adviser to the governor, Chief Babatunde Oduyoye, and Fatai Owoseni, his Special Adviser on Security, quit in what inner caucaus said created big holes in Makinde’s political and administration’s structures
Troubled by the growing trend that is fast decimating the ranks of his loyalists and capable of affecting the fortunes of the party in the governorship election in the State, Gov Makinde has begun to reach out to members of his cabinet and his remaining loyalists.
It was gathered that meetings with his fast-diminishing inner circle with the aggrieved party leaders and loyalists have now become daily affairs in Makinde’s Ikolaba and Kolapo Ishola Estate, Ibadan residences.
But sadly, he has been meeting dead ends. Sources at the meetings said Governor Makinde expressed worry at the growing trend and asked what could be done to retain the remaining party faithful in order not to jeopardize the governorship election. “The governor was visibly worried when those in attendance also said the last had not been heard of such defections. He wanted to know what could be done to curtail the mass defection.
It was also an opportunity for those at the meetings to speak their mind on the cause of the crisis bedeviling the party which was traced to the unilateral decision of the governor to pick Adekanmbi as the party’s governorship candidate in the 2027 election.”
A source said. Others also spoke of the different policies of the administration, which have attracted negative publicity to the administration.
The last meeting, which lasted until the early hours of Thursday, could not come up with strategies to stem the troubling trend.
Reacting, Makinde’s Media Adviser, *Sulaimon Olanrewaju, denied that his principal held secret meetings to save the party from imminent collapse.
He added: “The report alleging panic meetings, mass disaffection and a crumbling political structure is not only false; it is a calculated mix of distortions, half-truths and outright fabrications aimed at creating a crisis where none exists.”