Opposition parties in Oyo State have adopted Seyi Makinde, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, as their consensus candidate.
This was announced at the Bodija, Ibadan residence of a former Governor of the State, Rashidi Ladoja, on Saturday.
Chief Bolaji Ayorinde, the Social Democratic Party governorship candidate, told newsmen after a meeting of the opposition parties that they had all adopted Makinde as their consensus candidate to slug it out with Adebayo Adelabu of the All Progressives Congress.
Ayorinde, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said other opposition parties in the state would join the coalition aimed at forming a government of unity.
He said the decision was “an open book” for other parties to key in after concluding their various meetings with their caucuses and stakeholders.
Ayorinde had on Friday told newsmen that a document had been prepared for stakeholders to peruse and sign, saying all grey areas had been sorted out between the stakeholders in the meeting.
He said: “With the development, as you can see, Engineer Seyi Makinde is here, smiling, I am here and I am smiling, some of our other colleagues are possibly still with their caucuses and I believe they are also smiling.
“The outcome of our meeting is we are moving forward.
“We in the SDP have resolved to work with the PDP in Oyo State.
“We shall be supporting Makinde for governor.
“The parties remain the same and the party they are.
“But for the governorship election on the 9th of March, Saturday next week, we have all resolved to work for the candidate of PDP.
“By now, If I say we are five, by the time we finish talking to you, we may be seven, we may be eight.
“Every minute, we have been talking on how to come together as a government of unity in Oyo State.
“It is an open book, we are expecting more and more people to join.”
Makinde, on his part, expressed optimism that the people of the state would vote for him as the next governor of the state.
He said: “Like the learned silk mentioned, it’s an open book, people are free to plug in.
“SDP, AD have declared before now.
“You can hear the governorship candidate of the SDP declaring support for us and for unity government in Oyo State.
“We understand the ADC and ZLP are currently meeting with their caucuses.
“It’s an open book.
“Maybe tomorrow, maybe a day before election, they could also plug in.
“We leave everything open for now.”
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