Former candidate of the African Democratic Party (ADC) vying to represent Ibadan Southwest in the Oyo House of Assembly, Hon. Habib Idowu Balogun has lambasted Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde over alleged failure to honour the pact birthed by the coalition reached by different political parties prior to the 2019 gubernatorial election in Oyo State.
Habib made this revelation on YES FM Thursday, November 17 in Ibadan.
According to the politician, who is currently a member of the All Progressives Congress, senator Rashid Ladoja was the arrowhead behind the sunset coalition between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP); African Democratic Party (ADC); Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) at the NUJ Press Centre, Iyaganku, Ibadan to ensure the opposition candidate win the gubernatorial election.
In a strategic bid to defeat the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Adebayo Adelabu fondly known as ‘Penkelemesi’, Rashid Ladoja, Senator Olufemi Lanlehin, former gubernatorial candidate of the ADC and other stakeholders adopted Seyi Makinde of the PDP as the sole candidate at the 2019 poll.
He, however, said if not for the political wit of Senator Rashid Ladoja, Adelabu would have defeated Makinde by a landslide victory during the election owing to his unrivalled acceptance and popularity among the Oyo electorate.
Speaking on the terms of agreement reached with Makinde, the then candidate of the PDP prior to the coalition, Habib said it was agreed that while 50% of the political appointments would be allotted to the PDP; ADC would get 30%; 15% for ZLP and the SDP would take the remaining 5%.
He said, Makinde upon assumption of office as governor, jettisoned the agreement and began to appoint those who contributed nothing to his victory in 2019.
He lamented that such act of betrayal threw all the stakeholders and elders into bewilderment.
In his reaction to the choice of senator Teslim Folarin as the APC gubernatorial candidate in the 2023 general elections, Habib opined that the lawmaker has a lot to offer in terms of governance.
