A group, ‘Concerned Members of Zenith Labour Party’ (ZLP) in Oyo state has described the coalition that helped Governor Seyi Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to victory at the election in March as a sad footnote in the history of governance in the state, stressing that it was fraught with deception, insincerity and so much malfeasance.
It said the major political actors in the alliance went into it without knowing the intent of others.
The group also alleged that Governor Makinde became the beneficiary of a coalition he scuttled twice.
In a statement made available to Mega Icon Magazine in Ibadan, the state capital on Saturday by its Coordinator, Abimbola Atilola, the Concerned Members of ZLP recalled, “going down memory lane, the first attempt at an alliance was in 2015 when a meeting was held at Chief Bayo Akande’s residence.
“The aim was to work out an alliance between Engineer Seyi Makinde, Senator Teslim Folarin on the race for governorship of Oyo State.
“It is on record that the present governor of Oyo State, Makinde was the first person to pull out on the grounds that he can never step down for anybody hence he does not see any need to continue discussing with others.
“The talks eventually crashed. Makinde went on to contest in SDP, Folarin in PDP, Akala/Alli in Labour Party and Ladoja in Accord. The result is no more news. They all lost, but something was imperative. If all their votes had been pooled together, Ajimobi would not have won with 32% of the votes cast. The 68% would not have been wasted.
“With the background of the 2015 failure in mind, it was with great expectations that all opposition elements came together in 2017 to form a new PDP.
“it was the same Seyi Makinde who threw the first spanner in the wheels of progress of the new alliance. He went for a parallel congress and even things were resolved in some form of harmonization, he still continued to tinker with the Party Executives. His target was mainly the Ladoja and Alli groups. His actions, aided by a money hungry PDP National Executive resulted in the failure of the new alliance. The party splintered again. He was elated to have total control of what is left of PDP.
The statement continued, ” as fate will have it, the need for another alliance arose in 2019 towards the elections. It had become obvious that none of the opposition parties had enough muscles to defeat the ruling APC. There was need for other candidates to drop their ambitions, despite spending so much money and energy campaigning, in support of one candidate.
“Our Assembly candidates suffered serious electoral defeats as a result. Engineer Makinde became the beneficiary of a coalition he scuttled twice. The others were surprisingly magnanimous in ensuring the APC was shown the Red Card in Oyo State. They all worked hard and Seyi Makinde became governor”.
Reacting to the sharing formula, Atilola explained, “at a meeting in Makinde’s residence on Akala way, the new governor promised the opposition half of 14- man state executive thus; ADC 3, ZLP 2, Chief Ladoja 1and SDP 1.
“As at today there are 17 commissioners and ZLP does not have a single one in the list. The first signs of this attitude was in the convocation of the Transition Committee. In the first list, ZLP was not represented. After complaints, Governor Makinde gave the spurious excuse of not being aware of the list. He promised to rectify this in the supplementary sub-committees list, which fell flat too. ZLP was again short-changed”.
Despite the alleged breach of coalition agreement by Governor Makinde, the group wondered why its revered leader, former Governor Rashidi Ladoja has remained silent on this contentious issue in the face of what it described as ‘obvious slap on our faces’
It lamented further that while Ladoja’s cronies were celebrating with their new commissioner, the rest of ZLP members were leaking their wounds in their homes.
“The party’s flag bearer too, Barrister Sharafadeen Alli is shockingly complacent. This seems to lend some credence to the theory by some of the Governor’s men that they have been settled. It begins to look like true considering their silence and refusal to work in the interest of the teeming members of the party. Have we truly labored in vain like our traducers taunt us?
“If Seyi Makinde chooses to deal as such with us and our leaders are still feeling pretty, then it behoves on us to let the world know our fate.
“If the leaders were not settled we demand an explanation openly on why they have suddenly lost their voices and ability to negotiate. If they were, we demand to know who got how much and if it was worth our sweat and blood, or if it is big enough to cater for us in the next four years. The truth must be seen at times like this”, the statement added.
