Oyo State governor, ‘Seyi Makinde, declared on Wednesday that he is neither a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), nor thinking of porting from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into the party.
He made the clarification while speaking at the launch of a book written by a former Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, held at the Shehu Musa Yar’adua Centre, Abuja.
Makinde, one of the five governors remaining in the PDP, said he was in Abuja for the book launch, titled Headlines & Soundbites: Media Moments That Defined An Administration.
He added that he was at the book launch to honour the author, just like other prominent people from across the divides who were also present at the event.
He said: “I came here to say, well, this book, I know the author; he is a Nigerian that will attract all sorts of people across the divide.
“That is why I am here. I am not in the All Progressives Congress (APC), and I am not about porting to APC either.”
Makinde, speaking on the challenges facing Nigeria and its people, said there was a need for the elite in Nigeria to reach a consensus on how best to move the country forward.
He challenged the ruling class to identify the challenges the country is faced with and design appropriate solutions, which must discourage the winner-takes-all approach.
He said ordinary Nigerians have arrived at a consensus that they want to be Nigerians, but the elite have been the ones dividing the country along ethnic, religious, political and other lines.
Governor Makinde added that those who negotiated Nigeria’s independence chose federalism and multi-party democracy because they were imperative for the country’s multi-ethnic status.
“My experience is that ordinary Nigerians already have a consensus that they want to be Nigerians. But the elite, we the elite, are the ones dividing the country because we have ambitions. ‘Oh, he’s Muslim, he’s Christian, he is Fulani’ and all that.
“So, because we have here Nigerians from across the divide, I believe we need elite consensus, just like Professor Afolabi (former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, who delivered the keynote address) mentioned.
“We need elite consensus on how to move forward. But I will leave you with just one thing to ponder.
“He said here that Nigeria’s independence was negotiated under a certain condition. Of course, federalism was settled in that negotiation, multi-party democracy was settled in that negotiation. And Prof also said civil war came, and we went towards a unitary arrangement.
“Yes, I have had the opportunity to discuss with some of our leaders that were players in that period. They said, well, the only problem they were faced with, as of that time, was that they went through a civil war and they needed to unite Nigeria.
That was the only problem. So, federalism, and all of those things negotiated, became secondary. Their major task was to unite Nigeria.
“But is it the same problem that we are faced with today? The answer is no. So, we must identify the problem that we are faced with today and design something that will allow us to tackle that problem.
“My own magic bullet is, Prof mentioned, designing an arrangement where there will be no winner-takes-it-all politically in Nigeria,” he said.
Governor Makinde eulogised the author of the book, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and praised him for documenting his experience in government.
