Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state says Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 poll, has not spoken to him over the explosion that rocked the state.
On January 16, an explosion occurred at Dejo Oyelese Street, Bodija axis of Ibadan. The state government put the death toll from the incident at five, with many sustaining injuries. The blast also destroyed several houses.
Makinde had said the explosion was caused by illegal miners who stored explosives in one of the buildings.
The governor also said some “persons of interest” have been identified concerning the blast.
On Monday, Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the last election; Aisha Yesufu, an activist and politician; and some LP chieftains; paid a visit to Makinde in Ibadan over the incident.
The Oyo governor commended Obi for the visit. He also lauded Obi for staying above the partisan fray with the commiseration trip.
“I’m particularly grateful. Out of the three musketeers who contested that election, the president had reached out to me, you have reached out to me but my own party’s candidate… not even a call or a text message,” Makinde said.
“I’m saying this openly so that our leaders will know that we have time for politics, governance and humanity.”
In the buildup to the 2023 presidential election, Makinde was part of the G5 governors of the PDP who refused to back Abubakar’s presidential bid.
The G5 governors, with Nyesom Wike, current minister of the federal capital territory (FCT) leading the pack, had insisted that the party’s presidential candidate should not come from the same region with the party’s national chairman.
They had insisted that a southerner should succeed Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner, for purposes of fairness, equality and representation.
Bola Tinubu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a southerner from Lagos state, won the presidential vote of Oyo, a state controlled by Abubakar’s PDP.
