By Ogochukwu Isioma
The Oyo State Governor and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Engr. Seyi Makinde, has been declared winner of Saturday March 18, 2023 governorship election in the state.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Oyo State Resident Electoral Commission (REC), Tella Adeniran, declared Makinde the winner of the poll on Sunday.
He said Makinde defeated Sen. Teslim Folarin of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adebayo Adelabu of the Accord Party, and others to return elected.
According to the INEC’s REC, the Oyo governor secured victory in 31 of the 33 LGAs in the state while the APC won two local government areas.
In total, Makinde secured 563,756 votes while Teslim received 256,685 and Adelabu polled 38,757.
With this development, Makinde is now the second governor to serve for two terms in the Oyo state.
The first governor to serve for two terms was late Abiola Ajimobi who governed the state between 2011 and 2019.
Makinde’s re-election also puts him as the last man standing from the G-5 — a group of PDP governors that refused to support the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, because they wanted power shift to the South.
Other members of the G-5 with the exception of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State (who did not contest the National Assembly election) lost their bid to head to the Nigerian Senate.
They include Governors Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu and Samuel Ortom of Benue State.
Without the governor’s support, the PDP lost the presidential election in Oyo State to the APC. Makinde’s re-election was thought to be in jeopardy in the build-up to the March 18 poll.
