… Chides Gov Makinde over Political Outbursts

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South West has expressed confidence that the party will take over the mantle of leadership in all the states in the South West.

This is as the party boasted that the effective performance of the ruling party will fetch overwhelming victory for the APC in the June 20 governorship election in Ekiti State, and other states in the region including next year’s general election.

The Party also criticised the Oyo State Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde over his recent political outbursts.

The ruling APC made this remark on Tuesday in Ado-Ekiti when the newly elected Zonal officers of the party visited the state to hold the first inaugural meeting and participated in the Campaign flag-off of Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s second term

Addressing the newsmen, the Zonal Chairman, Isaac Kekemeke said the zonal executives were in Ekiti to interact and discuss matters of importance to the party and the governments in the southwest to win overwhelmingly in Ekiti and the zone at large.

“On June 20, 2026, that’s important to us. Ekiti must return Governor Biodun Oyebanji Why? Because he’s done so much. Because our party has done so much. Because Ekiti is now in the forefront of national discourse. Ekiti leads the 10th Assembly, and the 10th Senate.

“Rules are being constructed everywhere in Ekiti. Both by President Bola Tinubu’s federal government and Governor Oyebanji’s state government.

“In the areas of empowerment, in the areas of infrastructure, in health, in education, and in agriculture, Governor Oyebanji has delivered. Ekiti has never had it as good as it is. And what is more, there is peace in Ekiti

“And when it comes to violent crimes reported, Ekiti is the second least. In other words, there is peace.

And understandably so, because there is unity of the political leadership in Ekiti. That’s why Governor Oyebanji must return. And we have come as representatives of our party in the region to come and lend our voice to the desire of the majority of the people that Governor Oyebanji must return.

“We also congratulate him, on the successful flag of campaigns. Very successful. We saw the crowd.

We saw the people. We saw how enthusiastic they were. And we are very proud of him.

“We have congratulated him. Beyond that is a vision of the Southwest Executive that Osun in August, and Oyo in January 2027 must return to our fold, to the APC. We cannot have a Southwest that is politically divided.

“And that we, as officers of the party in the zone, do everything and work with all our leadership to ensure that all the states in the Southwest zone belong to the APC.”

On Governor Makinde, Kekemeke said, “The remarks and the threats by the Governor of Oyo State, Engineer Seyi Makinde are uncalled for. Anyone who’s reminding us of that terrible incident is an enemy of our region.

“We urge Southwesterners to treat it as such. Only an enemy of our region will remind us of that inglorious year. And we won’t ever wish that we had, I repeat, Southwesterners are wiser than that.

“And Governor Makinde’s political ambition will not drive Southwesterners to do that to themselves again. I say the ambition is funny because we don’t even know his party. There’s no party. We don’t even know which faction of the party he belongs to.

“He has no party. He has a depleted party. That is unpatriotic, and it’s an anti-Yoruba call.

The APC zonal Chairman expressed optimism that the party will occupy the government seats in all the states in the South-West

“That’s the task that we have as Southwest EExecutives working as representatives of our leaders to make sure that the entire Southwest gets into the APC, to support our president, and to say that we, as Southwest EExecutives representing leadership, are very proud of the achievement of Mr President in the last three years.

“We are doing so well. We can feel the effect of the changes. And those who know very well did say that if the president had not taken the bold steps that he took by matching the two exchange rates and by saying that the fuel subsidy, is gone, we’d probably be buying a litre of fuel for 3,000 per litre

“People have forgotten how we used to sleep in petrol stations. People have forgotten how we used to buy fuel from containers.

“And more so, a lot of Nigerians have forgotten how they went on unpaid for months by governments, by state governments. And, you know, it’s so easy to forget. But all of this was part of our story before President Bola Hammed Tinubu took over.

“We had a state government that didn’t pay salaries T hat was itself insufficient. Now the monthly thing is being paid. And the national income, the minimum wage has been increased.

“And just recently allowances have been increased again. There is more money with state governments to fulfil their obligations. No strike in the university in the last three years.

“Everybody is getting promoted. And what has to be done is being done. True, there are pains, there are hardships. But even the pains are giving way to pleasure. The hardship is easing. Prices of food are coming down. Inflation is coming down. We can feel it.

“There is a massive macro and microeconomic transformation in our country. It’s a matter of time before we all begin to feel it. It’s a matter of time.

“The president is doing so well. And we cannot go back to Egypt by changing this president. That’s what we are saying”, the APC S/ west said.