All Progressives Congress (APC) in Southwest yesterday said Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has insulted 32 governors and millions of voters by describing APC Presidential Campaign Organisation as a “Nebuchadnezzar Coalition and an Alliance of failed Governors.”

The Zonal Publicity Secretary, Ayo Afolabi, said in a statement that it is curious that the governor, with his borrowed presidential ticket, has mocked his antecedent.

He said while APC saw success, Makinde, in a figment of imagination, saw failure.

Afolabi said: “Thirty-two of Nigeria’s 36 sitting governors now stand with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. They come from APC, PDP, APGA and Accord. They include everyone of Governor Makinde’s Southwest neighbours – Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Dapo Abiodun, Biodun Oyebanji, Lucky Aiyedatiwa and Ademola Adeleke.

“Millions of Nigerians elected these men. To call them “failed” is to call their voters fools. The people of Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Osun and even Oyo will remember this insult and punish Makinde on election day.

“In 2023, Governor Makinde sat in the same tent as many of those he now calls ‘predators’. As a proud member of the G5, he celebrated the outcome of the election that produced this administration. Was he also a predator then, or only now that he has nowhere left to stand?

“Today, Governor Makinde has lost control of his own party. PDP calls his so-called alliance with the Allied Peoples Movement impersonation. Nyesom Wike, his own comrade in the G5, has declared the bid “dead on arrival”.

He added: “Even, the men who once shared his trenches will not follow him into this one. He campaigns on a borrowed ticket, while opposition leaders debate whether he, Atiku or Obi should lead them.

“A man who cannot keep his own house should not lecture Nigeria on coalitions.

His spokesmen went to the Book of Daniel and stopped one chapter too soon to read how Nebuchadnezzar was not only humbled, but was also restored to greater glory.

“Like Belshazzar who feasted with vessels that were not his own, until the hand wrote on the wall: weighed in the balance and found wanting, Makinde is contesting on a borrowed party and his frustration is not hidden.”

Afolabi said APC did not deny that Nigerians faced hard times, adding that “this administration took on reforms others deferred for decades, and those reforms are building the foundations for lasting recovery.”

He said “it is strange to hear a sitting governor speak of children who cannot read as if basic education were not first a state responsibility.” Afolabi added: “The people of Oyo deserve Governor Makinde’s own account before Abuja is asked to answer for every classroom in Oyo.

Elections are indeed won by the confidence of citizens.

“This is exactly why 32 governors, elected by those citizens, have chosen to repose their confidence in President Tinubu. Governor Makinde has chosen to stand alone on the road to political perdition. Southwest will not be divided by insults. We will deliver the zone to President Tinubu in 2027.” (The Nation)