OYO State Governor, Engr Seyi Makinde, has claimed that Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barr Nyesom Wike, promised to deliver the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

Speaking at a media parley in Ibadan, Oyo State capital on Tuesday, Mr Makinde said his grouse with Mr Wike started when they both visited President Tinubu after the 2023 election.

“I was with the President. The President’s Chief of Staff was also in that meeting. The Minister of the FCT was in that meeting too. Wike told the President right there that he would deliver the PDP to him. When we went outside, I asked him,’is that what we agreed?’ That is just the issue I have with him.The President did not ask him to do that, but maybe he wanted to run an errand that he was not sent to do,” Mr Makinde told senior journalists.

He further vowed that he would not support the idea of backing President Tinubu in 2027, stressing that a one party state was dangerous for democracy.

“I thought he would back off after that promise to the President, but he did not back off. Let me make it clear, I will not support the President in 2027,” he noted.

The PDP is hard hit by crisis, which has now divided the party into 2 factions. Since the 2023 elections, 7 governors of the party have defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), including Mr Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta), Mr Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom), Peter Mbah (Enugu), Douye Diri (Bayelsa), Siminalayi Fubara (Rivers), and Agbu Kefas (Taraba).

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But Mr Makinde said he was not moved by the defections, noting that Nigeria risked the Arab Spring when politicians were defecting to the ruling party without considering the level of hunger in the land.

He noted that he was in politics for a diferent reason. “I am not looking for money in politics,” he said. “I made my first $1 million in 1997. Wike, perhaps, just left the law school at that time, and his next job was local government chairman,” he said.

On whether he will contest the 2027 presidential election, Mr Makinde said he was qualified to do so but noted that his priority was different.

“I hear that a lot about me having a presidential ambition. Let me make this clear, I am qualiied to serve this nation at the highest level. Professionally, I ran a company at a very young age of 29. I did not go to the NNPC. I worked mostly in multinational companies, including Shell and ExxonMobil.

“I sent engineers to Equitorial Guinea, Ghana, Chad. But we need to first have a party before you begin talking about an election.You need to have a competitive environment. In 1999, our party was just like that until Ogbonnaya Onu sacrificed his presidential ambition for Baba Olu Falae and Shinkafi. As soon as he did that, the environment became competitive.”

He admitted that he and other G-5 Governors supported the President to reallise his presidential ambition in 2023, noting, however, that it was a big mistake that he would never repeat.

On why he fell out with President Tinubu, he said there was an agreement that the President would run the government of national unity after the election, stressing that there had been deviation since 2023.

“Do we have the government of national unity now?” he asked, rhetorically. “Now, we are moving towards a one-party state. If we have a one-party state, what happens when you have a bipartisan or multipartisan issue?” he asked.

He also revealed what transpired between him and President Tinubu after the election. “After the election, I asked him what he would give us. He said he was looking for a development economist from Oyo State who would man the Ministry of Budget. I nominated someone. But he appointed someone else from the state and made him Minister of Power.

“When I visited him later, he said he heard I was upset. I told him that if he appointed Adedibu because he was looking for someone to organise his party in Oyo State, he was wrong because the man did not have the capscity to do that. He said he wanted me to do that, but I told him I would not do that.”