Wike: Tinubu Gave Makinde N50bn To Expand Ibadan Airport

Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister, Nyesom Wike, has disclosed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu gave Governor Seyi Makinde N50 billion to support the expansion of the Ibadan International Airport.
Wike made the revelation on Monday while speaking on TVC’s Journalist Hangout, saying the gesture was to compensate Makinde for supporting the president during the 2023 presidential election.
Recall that Wike and four other members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had broken ranks with their party to support Tinubu, then presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), instead of Atiku Abubakar, the PDP candidate.
But following Tinubu’s victory, acrimony soon arose between President Tinubu and Governor Makinde, who claimed he was betrayed by the president, saying, for instance, that he was not compensated for supporting Tinubu.
Sources close to the Oyo State governor said only Wike, who was appointed FCT Minister, was the ultimate beneficiary of the support the G5 gave Tinubu in 2023, which, not a few said, contributed to the incumbent’s victory in the election.
Wike and Makinde have since fallen out, as their friendship hit the rock because the Oyo State governor believed he was betrayed by the minister and President Tinubu.
Speaking on Monday, Wike said Makinde did not get what he expected from the president, but that Tinubu still compensated him by supporting the upgrade of the airport with N50 billion.
According to the minister, Governor Makinde was expecting the president to nominate one of his associates as a minister, but the president explained to him that he could not do so because of some political realities in the state.
Apart from the N50 billion to support Makinde’s airport project, Wike said other members of the G5 were compensated by the president with different positions in the administration.
The minister stressed that only former Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State refused to accept any position in Tinubu’s administration.