Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has dropped his embattled deputy, Rauf Olaniyan and has picked Bayo Lawal as his running mate ahead of the 2023 governorship election.
The development confirms the alleged rift over the years between Makinde and Olaniyan.
Lawal served as the state attorney-general in the administration of the late Lam Adesina. He also served as the executive chairman of Oyo State Housing Corporation under Makinde.
Leaders in the deputy’s camp have accused Makinde of breaching an agreement made before the 2019 election that brought the duo in, adding that the governor did not involve Olaniyan in the affairs of the state.
Olaniyan was a governorship aspirant in the African Democratic Congress before the party entered into an alliance with the People’s Democratic Party ahead of the 2019 election.
It had been earlier reported that the frosty relationship between Makinde and Olaniyan, may force the latter to dump the People’s Democratic Party
It was gathered that Makinde had already started to shop for a new running mate from Oke Ogun where Olaniyan comes from.
The All Progressives Congress is also said to be wooing the deputy governor to its side.
A source confirmed that the deputy governor and Makinde had been having a cold war for a long time.
The source said, “The deputy governor, Rauf Olaniyan, in the year 2020 complained bitterly about being sidelined in the running of government when the Saka Balogun-led committee set up to resolve the grievances of aggrieved members of the PDP visited him.
“He told the committee that the governor neglected him and the promises made to him during the electioneering, and made Senator Hosea Agboola more relevant than him in the government.
“Nothing has changed since that time and the governor has been advised to drop him as his running mate in 2023.The deputy governor is also being wooed by some political parties.”
