Governors Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and his counterpart from Osun, Ademola Adeleke on Saturday met at the Government House, Agodi, Ibadan, Oyo State, to forge a common front and end their ‘misunderstanding.’

Though, several members of the Southwest Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) consider their actions as self-serving rather than in the larger interest of the party, one of the interesting aspects of their meeting was the agreement between the duo to present and support Barrister Kamar Ajisafe Kosolowoe, a former council chairman and Special Adviser to Governor Adeleke on Tax Matters, as national vice chairman Southwest of the party.

Recall that since the demise of the immediate past national vice chairman of PDP Southwest, Soji Adagunodo, who died after a brief illness in the U.S.A earlier in May 2023, the zone is yet to replace him allegedly because of the perceived acrimony between Makinde and Adeleke.

Governor Makinde was said to have played a significant role in the emergence of the late Adagunodo as national vice chairman in spite of Adeleke disapproval, who had at one time alleged that the former Osun PDP state chairman was not in support of his gubernatorial ambition.

There was an allegation from the camp of Adeleke that the late Adagunodo did not support the governor in 2022, but worked for the emergence of Akin Ogunbiyi, the Chairman of Mutual Assurance, who was the runner up to Adeleke in the governorship primary election.

Whether some members of the party in the zone believe or not that Adeleke and Makinde were once at loggerheads, there are considerations that buttress their recent reconciliation going by the fact that when the incumbent Deputy National Chairman of PDP, Taofik Arapaja, who was the former national vice chairman Southwest and a Man-Friday of Governor Makinde was contesting for his present position, the Oyo State governor ensured that his preferred candidate, Adagunodo from Adeleke’s State replaced Arapaja.

Perhaps the ‘dancing’ governor may have considered Makinde’s actions, at the time, a big threat to his gubernatorial ambition. Makinde’s disposition towards the Osun State governor wasn’t a friendship move at all and the erstwhile senator treated it as such.

While Governor Makinde is a gentle, soft spoken introvert but hard politician who knows what he wants and goes for it, Adeleke is an extrovert but also calculative. Their styles and patterns of politics are never the same.

Therefore when Adagunodo suddenly passed on in May, some pundits said it became slightly difficult for Adeleke to present a successor without seeking the input of Makinde.

The acrimony between the duo also manifested when Makinde tactically distanced himself from Adeleke all through the Osun State gubernatorial primary and even during the campaign. The Oyo State governor simply managed to congratulate Adeleke when he defeated the former governor of the state, Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Another scenario that confirmed their feud was the ego of who leads the Southwest PDP. While Adeleke was actively supporting the presidential ambition of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the party in the last general elections, Makinde pitted his tent with the G-5 governors, who posited that a northerner and immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari, could not have spent eight years to be succeeded by Atiku, another northerner irrespective of political party affiliation or sentiments.

Makinde and his group also believed that Atiku being a northerner, could not have emerged as PDP presidential candidate while at the same time the erstwhile PDP national chairman, Iyochia Ayu is also from the same zone. Adeleke did not share this view with Makinde and the G-5. Perhaps the position of Osun State governor was that power must be wrestled from APC first before other issues were resolved.

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