Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has been endorsed for another term in office by the State Working Committee of the Labour Party (LP).
Makinde is the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the election holding on Saturday.
Addressing journalists at the party’s state office in Ibadan yesterday, the party chairman, Mr Tunji Sadiq, said the party had resolved to use its structure throughout the 33 local government areas of the state to support the re-election bid of Makinde.
Sadiq said the party decided to support the PDP candidate because his ideology aligned with LP’s in the aspects of security, infrastructural development, agriculture and industry, health, financial independence, economic wellbeing of the people.
He added the party did a thorough assessment and evaluation of the various governorship candidates and discovered that Makinde stood out above others in terms of character, competence, capacity and compassion for the people.
Sadiq said the party also opined that it was logical for Makinde to be allowed to “continue the good work he has started to engender another four years of giant development in Oyo State.”
Asked about the fact the Labour Party has a governorship candidate in Mr Taofeek Akinwale, Sadiq said though Akinwale was the party’s candidate, the party’s candidate took the decision to support Makinde of the PDP in the best interest of the party and the citizens of the state.
The Labour Party chairman further held that it took the decision to support Makinde because its unbiased assessment of Akinwale revealed that he cannot win the election.
While supporting Makinde, Sadiq said its party did not collapse its structure into the PDP, saying its structure still was in place to support its other candidates for House of Assembly.
Sadiq said, “On our thorough assessment of the various governorship candidates for the March 11, 2023 election in terms of character, competence, capacity, and compassion for people, His Excellency, Engineer Oluseyi Makinde excels above the others.
“Therefore, we, at the Labour Party Oyo State, have decided to use the entire structure of our party throughout the 33 local governments to support his re-election for another four years of giant development in Oyo state. And we call on all citizens of Oyo State to vote massively for him. He deserves it.
“He is a candidate that will serve the best interest of the masses the most. It is not that we are collapsing the party structure. The party structure remains, and will use it for other activities. Our candidates for the House of Assembly remain and we will follow it through.
“Tawfiq Akinwale remains the governorship candidate. There is a process for which a candidate is thrown up. You do primary and once the person is selected or elected, the person becomes the candidate of the party.
“Tawfiq Akinwale is the candidate of the party but the party structure did an unbiased and dispassionate assessment of our guber candidate and found out that, on a normal day, there is no way he will win that election. It will be unhealthy for us to know what will become of our aspiration and still go ahead.
“For us not to lose focus in the development of the party, it is in the best interest of the party, especially the citizens, to look for a candidate that represents our interest, that has our ideology and delivers for our people, that is what we see in Engineer Seyi Makinde. We did this without financial inducement. We are people-focused; people-friendly and we are for the masses,” he said.
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