Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has revealed how President Bola Tinubu allegedly asked governors to adopt ministerial nominees of his choice, even when they had recommended other candidates for federal appointments.
Makinde disclosed this while recounting how Tinubu rejected his recommendation of Bimbo Adekanmbi for a ministerial position and instead appointed Bayo Adelabu, his political rival in the 2019 Oyo State governorship election, as Minister of Power.
Speaking during a media chat with Fresh FM on Sunday, Makinde said Tinubu had initially asked him to recommend a development economist for the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
The governor said he nominated Adekanmbi because he believed the former commissioner had played a significant role in stabilising the administration of the late former governor Abiola Ajimobi.
However, Tinubu eventually settled for Adelabu, according to Makinde.
The governor said the President subsequently asked him to take ownership of the appointment by publicly presenting Adelabu as his preferred candidate.
Makinde said he refused, insisting that the appointment should be acknowledged as Tinubu’s decision.
“I said, ‘No, sir. Bayo is your choice, and let it be known to the people that it is your choice,’” he recalled.
Makinde added that his responsibility was to recommend capable individuals who could contribute to the administration, leaving the President to make the final decision.
“I’m supposed to help you by nominating people who can add value to your administration. If you’ve seen somebody who can do that, that’s good,” he said.
GOVERNORS GIVEN NOMINEES TO ADOPT
The Oyo governor said he later discovered that the arrangement was not limited to his own experience, claiming that several other governors were also given ministerial nominees selected by Tinubu and asked to adopt them as their choices.
“The point I’m trying to make is that most of my colleagues, not just those in the G5, my governor colleagues, right, were given people and asked to adopt those people as theirs,” Makinde said.
His account raises questions about the extent of governors’ influence over ministerial nominations and the process through which candidates were selected for Tinubu’s cabinet.
However, Makinde did not identify all the governors involved or name the nominees allegedly presented to them.
WIKE’S G5 ADVANTAGE
Makinde also revisited the political alliance between Tinubu and the G5 governors ahead of the 2023 presidential election, describing Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike as the ultimate beneficiary of the arrangement.
He said the G5 governors, apart from Wike, did not receive ministerial appointments under the arrangement.
“The G5, minus, of course, Wike, was not given ministerial appointments,” he said.
The G5 comprised Makinde, Wike, Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State.
The five governors, elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), refused to support the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the 2023 election.
Their opposition stemmed from disagreements over the PDP leadership crisis and demands for power to shift to the South after former President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year tenure.
Their stance weakened the PDP’s campaign as Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), went on to win the election.
Wike was subsequently appointed FCT minister by Tinubu, while Makinde remained in the PDP.
Meanwhile, Adekanmbi, whom Makinde said he had recommended for a federal appointment, is now the governorship candidate of the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM) in Oyo State.
Makinde’s latest disclosure provides a glimpse into the political negotiations surrounding ministerial appointments and the alliances that shaped the run-up to the 2023 presidential election.
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