*Says decision on Atiku cannot hold water in Oyo State
By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
With few weeks to the 2023 general elections, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Engineer Femi Babalola has declared that Governor Seyi Makinde and other G-5 Governors cannot stop the party’s Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar from winning the election
The PDP Chieftain said this in Ibadan on Monday, while speaking with journalists on the forthcoming general elections in country particularly the Presidential polls.
Engineer Babalola emphasized that it is now glaring that the stand of the G5 Governors will not in any way affect the fortunes of Alhaji Abubakar Atiku as the PDP Presidential candidate as their decision cannot hold water in Oyo state
He stressed that he and others PDP Chieftains in Oyo state loyal to Alhaji Atiku’s Presidential cause have put in place necessary efforts at ensuring that Alhaji Atiku will win convincingly in Oyo state and the country as whole, adding, the threat of G-5 governors cannot affect Atiku’s victory.
“I can assure you that, with efforts we have put in place so far and the ongoing ones, Makinde’s stand will not affect the fortunes of Abubakar Atiku in Oyo state, which have been displayed severally. People came out en-masse, party members came out and they were chanting Atiku! Atiku! Atiku! And they said that is the person they wanted in the presence of G5-Governors”, he said
Engr Babalola added. “Atiku will win, members know their own, no matter what. The freedom walk was excellent in turn out, the stance of party members in the presence of G-5 was also another sign of victory in Oyo state”.
” We are leaving no stone unturned, we are working assiduously to compliment already established acceptability of Atiku in the state”.
The PDP leader maintained that considering the situation in the country, there is no doubt in the fact that Nigeria now needs Alhaji Atiku who has been at the presidency before as Vice President for eight years to bring the country back to its foot.
” It is like Nigeria is lost somewhere in the moon. When you say something is in the trenches, you know where it is. The state at which we are now is that we don’t know where the country is. As far as I am concerned, we need Atiku, who has done this before. Of all those contesting, he is the one who has done it before”.
Engr Babalola said ” He has been the Vice-President for eight years. He has seen it all. That is the kind of person we need now. We don’t need a learner. We don’t need someone that will come in and learn on the job. Someone who will say give me the first two years to settle down, I want to take my time and see what is going on in this villa.”
Speaking further, Engineer Babalola pointed out that “State politics and regional politics are different from National politics. National governance is different from state or regional governance. I stand by Atiku. He is qualified. He is competent. He has done it before, saying, ” if you look at it again, he is one man that identifies talents. Atiku brought 90% of all the people that worked with Obasanjo during his tenure”.
“He is just a very humble guy who doesn’t talk. He probably doesn’t fly his achievements around. He was the man behind so many of the people that helped Obasanjo as President to achieve results.Don’t forget that at some point the governors had to go and beg him to take over from Obasanjo. If he wanted to, he had the structure in his hands in 2003. He didn’t.
“I believe that the Yorubas owe Atiku in 2023, if he was a greedy man, if he was an over ambitious man, he would have been the President in 2003. So Yoruba owe him. Two, in 1991, I was there in Jos. He was one of the guys that was asked to step down for Abiola. So, we owe him. Yorubas owe him. If he had contested with Abiola maybe something else would have happened. So, I believe we owe him from the South-West”.
