Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde on Thursday met with President Bola Tinubu to, he said, “discuss governance issues”.
Makinde, who was rumored to be eyeing the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP for 2027, while answering questions from State House journalists after meeting the President, said he is comfortable with the PDP and hence has no plans to leave the party.
Recall that Makinde, who is serving his second term as PDP governor in Oyo State, is one of the four governors elected under the platform of the party who are still flying the flag of the party.
While other governors elected on the party platform have defected to the ruling APC, only the governors of Oyo, Adamawa, Bauchi and Zamfara have continued to remain with the party, despite pressure to join their allies in the APC.
Makinde was accompanied at the presidential villa by Plateau's Caleb Muftwang, who recently joined the ruling party
On whether he was planning to leave the PDP, he said, “No. I am comfortable in the PDP, and then, we can have issues in this country where you need a bipartisan approach, where it will not be an issue of APC talking alone or PDP talking alone, where we have to look at what is the best move in the interest of our country. So when you get to that junction, you need to take everybody on board.”
“You have the President of Nigeria, not the President of the APC and we are here talking about governance. So I have come basically to discuss with the President on some governance issues.”
Makinde also stressed that he enjoyed a cordial relationship with the President, saying “I have not said anything in the past that says we are not enjoying a cordial relationship.
“You know, politics is politics. We belong to different political parties, but Nigeria is a project that all Nigerians should be concerned about; the welfare of our people, what are the governance issues, the issue of insecurity, poverty alleviation.
“I mean, those are things that have no color of party, as leaders, whether president or governor of a state, these are things that we have to work together on, consult with each other, and make sure that we make life better for our people.”
The governor, who was instrumental in the successful conclusion of the party's national convention in Ibadan, also did not reveal whether the continued closure of the party's National Secretariat, Wadata Plaza and the ongoing impasse in the PDP as well as the roles being played by the Federal Capital Territory FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, were discussed at the meeting.
