Alli to Makinde: APM South-South leaders’ rejection confirms your presidential ambition dead on arrival
The APM South-South leaders, in a newspaper advertorial on Wednesday, passed a vote of no confidence in Makinde, accusing him of lacking substance, political will and the focus needed to lead the party in the right direction.
“He came to the party with a promise of lies and has been wallowing in an ocean of dishonesty, political compromise and incompetence. If he cannot be honest with his party members, how can he be honest with Nigerians he aspires to lead?” the APM leaders queried.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by its Director of Media and Publicity, Bisi Oladele, SSACO said the rejection vindicated its position that Makinde was merely playing a spoiler’s game, using a fake presidential bid to negotiate a soft landing ahead of the 2027 general elections.
It stressed that Makinde knew he could not win the presidential race but was using his position as a sitting governor to undermine President Bola Tinubu’s votes in the South-West.
“The good news is that he will not only lose to President Tinubu in Oyo State, his lackey, Hon. Bimbo Adekanmbi, whom he is desperate to install for an undemocratic third term, will be flatly defeated by Senator Sharafadeen Alli, whose Oyo AHEAD agenda will put Oyo State on a faster development lane from next year.
“SSACO is glad that more stakeholders are now seeing through Makinde’s lies and rejecting his antics, confirming that no Nigerian takes Makinde seriously anymore. His ambition is what it is: a smokescreen and dead on arrival,” the statement said.
The campaign organisation also pointed to what it described as the daily collapse of Makinde’s political structures in Oyo State, saying associates and party leaders were resigning in droves and isolating him over his alleged selfish decisions.
“If a man cannot manage his party in his own state, how can he manage Nigeria?” a South-South APM leader queried at a meeting on Tuesday.
“The South-South stakeholders are therefore in sync with the reality in Oyo that Seyi Makinde is a man who does not recognise established party structures, in the same way that he abandoned those who supported him in winning the 2019 and 2023 governorship elections.
“In the past few weeks, not a single day has passed without one aide or another resigning from his sinking cabinet. This has shown that Governor Seyi Makinde, who cannot manage his own men within Oyo State, should not be taken seriously over his ambition. It is dead on arrival,” the statement concluded.