Bisi Olopoeyan, a chieftain of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), has criticised Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo, over his recent stage stunt in Akure, the Ondo state capital, describing it as childish.
Olopoeyan spoke in an interview on the KMO (Knowledge Meets
Opinion) programme, uploaded on YouTube on Friday.
He questioned the relevance of the governor’s action to
governance, saying Makinde appeared to be more interested in taking jabs at
President Bola Tinubu than presenting his own plans to the electorate.
“Is governance run by jumping about? Seyi Makinde sometimes
behaves like a child. Are he and Tinubu the same age? Or does he think he will
never grow old?” the APM chieftain asked.
“Tinubu’s firstborn is older than Seyi Makinde. He jumped
off a stage and expected Tinubu to do the same. Is jumping off a stage the
wisdom needed to run a government, when it is not as if you are going to
wrestle or box?”
Olopoeyan said Makinde’s action suggested that he had little
to offer beyond repeatedly mentioning Tinubu during his campaign.
“It just shows that he doesn’t have anything to campaign
with other than to keep mentioning Tinubu. Why can’t he just tell people what
he wants to do differently?” Olopoeyan asked.
“If Seyi Makinde’s father was alive, could he jump off a
stage like that?”
BACK STORY
On Thursday, the APM presidential candidate jumped off the
stage at the south-west town hall meeting of the Makinde/Daura campaign
organisation in Akure, the Ondo state capital, to make a point about stamina
ahead of the 2027 elections.
Makinde challenged other presidential candidates to do the
same, telling the audience: “If they can do that, vote for them.”
He urged Nigerians to consider the stamina of candidates
contesting in the 2027 presidential election.
The governor said he would not make age an issue in the
contest but would focus on the candidates’ energy and ability to cope with the
demands of the office.
OLOPOEYAN-MAKINDE RIFT
Despite being an APM chieftain, Olopoeyan has been a vocal
critic of Makinde and his administration’s policies in recent times.
The two politicians were reportedly strong allies in the
early years of Makinde’s administration but fell out shortly after his victory
in the 2019 governorship election over disagreements and political concessions.
The rift reportedly led Olopoeyan and some of his supporters
to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the platform on which Makinde won
the governorship in 2019 and secured re-election in 2023.
The two men later reconciled ahead of the 2023 governorship
election. However, another crisis reportedly erupted around August 2026 over
allegations that Makinde had failed to allocate local government chairmanship
slots to Olopoeyan’s loyalists for the LG elections.
Olopoeyan and his supporters identify themselves as the
legacy APM and are reportedly backing Tinubu for re-election in 2027.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com