Labour Party adopts PDP’s Gov. Makinde as Oyo State’s guber candidate

Labour Party (LP) in Oyo State adopted Governor Seyi Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday in Ibadan as its candidate for the March 11 governorship election.

Sadiq Atayese, LP chairman, said in a news conference that the state’s working committee of the party believed in the emergence of Makinde, a candidate with character, competence, and capacity, in the interest of the citizens.

He said, however, that the electorate should vote for LP candidates at the state assembly elections.

“Going by the results of the Feb. 25 presidential election and political realities in our state, it is obvious that no individual party can win the coming gubernatorial election single-handedly.

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“The main priority should be to ensure that citizens win through the election of a candidate that best serves their collective interests.

“Against this backdrop, the right thing now is for parties and their candidates to form alliances with candidates of like ideology,’’ he said.

According to Atayese, the LP in Oyo State has decided to work with the candidate whose ideology aligns with its own in terms of security of lives and property, infrastructural development, food security, education, and human capital development.

“It is of note that the present PDP administration under Gov. Makinde has presented its scorecard from the health sector with the provisions of primary healthcare centres in every ward to security and others.

“There is no doubt that his governance ideas in the establishment of the Park Management System, which other states now emulate, have made him a leader with uncommon innovation.

“From our evaluation as a party, Makinde has done well, and we know that continuous development of a state is a function of stability in governance,’’ he said.

Atayese stressed that there had been meaningful development in Oyo State in the last four years; hence, it was only logical that the good work should continue.

“We have the responsibility to maintain the nobility of our heritage, and we, the citizens, have to stand by it.

“We took a thorough assessment of the various governorship candidates for the March 11 election in terms of character, competence, capacity, and compassion for the people.

“Gov. Makinde excelled above the others; therefore, the LP in Oyo state has decided to use its structure throughout the 33 local government areas to support his re-election for another four years of giant development,’’ Atayese stressed.