Tinubu asked me to claim Adelabu as my ministerial choice, I refused — Makinde

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has said President Bola Tinubu asked him to take ownership of Adebayo Adelabu’s ministerial appointment after rejecting his recommendation of former Oyo state commissioner for finance, Bimbo Adekanmbi.

Makinde made this disclosure on Sunday during a media chat with Fresh FM in Ibadan, where he also discussed the G5 governors’ alliance with Tinubu ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

The governor said Tinubu had initially asked him to recommend a development economist for the budget and economic planning portfolio. He said he nominated Adekanmbi because he believed the former commissioner had played a significant role in stabilising the administration of former Oyo State governor Abiola Ajimobi.

Makinde said Tinubu later informed him that he had decided to appoint Adelabu, whom he contested against in the 2019 Oyo governorship election.

Recounting the conversation, Makinde said, “I said, ‘Okay, I know Bayo.’ I contested against Bayo in 2019. He is a first-class material.’

“And then the president eventually said, ‘Well, since I’ve taken this decision to appoint Bayo, you should go and take ownership of him, like go out and say it was your choice.’”

The governor said he rejected the suggestion, insisting that the appointment should be acknowledged as Tinubu’s decision.

“So I said, ‘No, sir. Bayo is your choice, and let it be known to the people that it is your choice.

“‘I’m supposed to help you by nominating people who can add value to your administration. If you’ve seen somebody who can do that, that’s good.’”

Makinde said he later discovered that other governors had also been asked to adopt ministerial nominees selected by Tinubu.

“The point I’m trying to make is that most of my colleagues, not just those in the G5, my governor colleagues, right, were given people and asked to adopt those people as theirs,” he said.

Makinde also said most members of the G5, a group of five governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), did not receive ministerial appointments under Tinubu’s administration.

“The G5, minus, of course, Wike, was not given ministerial appointments,” he said.

The G5 comprised Makinde, Nyesom Wike, Samuel Ortom, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Okezie Ikpeazu. The governors opposed the PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, ahead of the 2023 election amid disagreements over the party’s leadership.

Makinde, whose second and final term ends in May 2027, is the presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM). At the APM Northeast 2027 Town Hall Meeting in Yola, Adamawa State, on Sunday, he promised to establish a four-year transitional Government of National Unity (GNU) if elected president in 2027.