Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo and presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), has rejected a claim by Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), that President Bola Tinubu gave the state N50 billion for the Ibadan airport upgrade project.
Makinde spoke on Tuesday during the north-west town hall
organised by APM in Katsina as part of electioneering efforts ahead of the 2027
general election.
Speaking during a live appearance on TVC’s Journalists’
Hangout on Monday, the minister had said he was not the sole beneficiary of the
Tinubu administration among the G5 governors of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), a group which Makinde previously belonged to.
“President Tinubu provided N50 billion to support Oyo
Governor Seyi Makinde’s plan to upgrade Oyo Airport into an international
airport. So, it’s not correct to say I’m the only G5 governor benefiting from
Tinubu’s government,” Wike said.
Makinde, however, described the claim as false, saying the
airport project is solely funded by the state government.
“My attention was called to an interview granted yesterday
by the minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, where he said that the president gave N50
billion to Oyo state or to me to upgrade the airport in Ibadan to international
standards,” Makinde said.
“I want to say that claim is false. The president did not
give N50 billion to me or to Oyo state to upgrade the Ibadan airport. The
airport upgrade project is being undertaken 100 per cent with the money of Oyo
state.”
Makinde flagged off the upgrade of the Samuel Ladoke
Akintola Airport in September 2024 at an initial cost of N41 billion.
While the domestic terminal upgrade was completed in October
2025, the full international terminal upgrade, including facilities for customs
and immigration, is still in progress.
Wike, a member of the PDP, was appointed minister by Tinubu
in August 2023 and has been campaigning for the president’s second-term bid.
In the build-up to the 2023 election, both politicians and
other members of the G5, including Samuel Ortom, who was then governor of
Benue, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, refused to support
Atiku Abubakar’s 2023 presidential bid.
They worked against former vice-president, who was the PDP
candidate at the time, following Wike’s rejection of the outcome of the party’s
primary, which he alleged was rigged in favour of Atiku.
The former governor of Rivers contested the primary
alongside Atiku and 12 other aspirants, but came second at the exercise,
polling 237 votes against Atiku’s 371.
However, Makinde has since broken ranks with the G5 after
falling out with Wike over the FCT minister’s support for Tinubu’s second-term
bid.
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