By James Orji
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state is among the state governors that are not likely to attend a meeting called by Chief Bisi Akande, a veteran south west politician and former All Progressives Congress, APC Interim National Chairman, to brainstorm on issues affecting the region, particularly on the recent agitation for a Yoruba nation.
Apart from the Oyo state helmsman, Governor Fayemi of Ekiti state, it was learnt will also not attend the parley, according to sources in Ekiti Government House, who cited political differences with the former Governor Bola Tinubu, on whose behalf the meeting was being conveyed.
Fayemi is being backed by some APC stalwarts, including Governor El Rufai of Kaduna state to contest the 2023 presidential election, contrary to the position of a bloc in the party who supports Asiwaju Tinubu.
Akande, a former governor of Osun state has convened the meeting amidst raging calls for secession from Nigeria by prominent Yoruba leaders. In his state, Osun, supporters of secession led by youth activist Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho met at the week end to chart a way forward on Yoruba future in the Nigerian federation.
This may have become a source of worry for Akande, particularly with the rumoured presidential ambition of his protégé, former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The concern among some leaders in the South west, particularly, those in the camp of the former Lagos Governor, is that the agitation for secession could scuttle the ambition of Tinubu to take a shot at the presidency in 2023.
The unease in Tinubu’s camp, it was learnt, prompted the Akande meeting in which all the governors in the region are expected to attend at the Lagos House in Marina, on May 23.
Those expected to attend the meeting are: Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; APC stalwart, Bola Tinubu; Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State; his Ogun State counterpart, Dapo Abiodun; Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State and Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu.
Others invited to the meeting include: Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum; the Chairman, Police Service Commission, Musiliu Smith; a former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Alani Akinrinade; and former APC South-West Vice Chairman, Pius Akinyelure.
The invite read in part, “Notice of Meeting: A lot has happened in our country since the last time we met, I hereby formally invite you for a meeting on the state of the nation as follows: Date: Sunday, May 23, 2021. Time: 2pm. Venue: Lagos House, Marina. Lagos. Subject: Review of State of Nation.
“Attendees: Chief Bisi Akande, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chief Segun Osoba, Gen. Alani Akinrinade (retd.), Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, Chief Pius Akinyelure, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, Kayode Fayemi, Governor Dapo Abiodun, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Former IGP, Alhaji Musiliu Smith.”
But, speaking on the meeting an aide to Governor Makinde said his principal will not attend “because he was not among the invitees. From all indications, the meeting called by Chief Akande seems to us an APC affairs, as the names of the list of invitees indicate. “
He said “The Governor of Oyo state is a member of the People’ Democratic Party, PDP and as such what they do in APC is not his concern. The convener, Chief Bisi Akande is a respected elder statesman, and the governor respect him as well as other Yoruba leaders but the meeting does not seem a bi-partisan one, all the governor can do is to wish them well in their endevours.
Governor Makinde is among the leaders in the region who does not support the presidential ambition of Tinubu. The governor who defeated the governorship candidate of the APC, Adebayo Adelabu in 2015, has said repeatedly that what the region needs now is restructuring rather than a power ship to the south west, as being clamoured by the Tinubu group, even though the APC stalwart has not expressly shown interest in the 2023 presidential race.
The magazine, however, learnt that Governor Makinde is supporting former vice President Atiku Abubakar to take over from President Muhammadu Buhari whose tenure expires in two years’ time.
