Oyo State Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde, said on Monday that governors leaving the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were free to do so, adding that the party would not make worrying about defections a thing of priority.
Makinde argued that defection by politicians was not peculiar to the PDP, just as he added that so long as membership of a party was voluntary, people should also be allowed to go whenever they chose to defect.
Speaking in Abuja at the inauguration of the Transportation Sub-Committee of the National Convention of the party to be held in Ibadan on November 15, the governor said the PDP was only interested in the welfare of Nigerians and not about the individuals leaving the party.
‘We are not concerned, and we are not bothered, because the ultimate decider here will be the Nigerian people.
‘The only time I’ll be concerned, the only time that we will be concerned as a party, is when we see hunger defect from the ordinary people on the streets and join APC, then that’s the time we will be concerned’, he stated.
The governor, who is the chairman of the committee, explained that the priority of committed party members was to build a PDP solid enough to defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2027; a project he said would be fully defined by the outcome of the Ibadan convention.
He promised that Ibadan would be one of the best-organised PDP conventions and would produce a leadership that would lead the party to success in 2027.
‘Hold me responsible if we do not have one of the best national conventions in the history of PDP’, he stressed.
Makinde dismissed claims that he fought to have the conversation in Ibadan because of his own political ambition, insisting that the PDP must be healthy first as a party before any serious members would be thinking about personal ambitions.
He noted: ‘Well, I already said to people several times, I’m old enough to set an agenda for myself. For us, we must have a party before anyone can have an ambition.
‘So, all the efforts right now, except you’re saying that, no, forget about having a party, just focus on ambition. So, nobody’s going to set an agenda for me.
‘First thing first, our first step is to put our best effort, the best foot forward to ensure that your state is able to host the best national convention ever in the history of PDP. And that is exactly what we’re focused on.’
Asked to assess the performance of the APC since 2023 in view of the series of challenges confronting the country, including insecurity, Makinde replied that making assessments or comparisons has never been his style.
However, the governor said Nigerians were ‘not blind’ and could ‘see.’
He added, ‘The people of Nigeria are not blind; they know.
‘I can give you the assurance that we’re not going to spend our energy and time talking about what they should have done or they shouldn’t have done, because Nigerians are aware. They are more aware than we leaders are even giving them credit for.
‘But the PDP you will see post-convention, with new leaders, new heroes coming up, will be a PDP that will come out boldly to tell Nigerians what they will do for them. And it will be in black and white, such that we can be held accountable.’