Ibadan – Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has dropped his deputy, Rauf Olaniyan and pickled Mr Bayo Lawal as his runing mate for the 2023 governorship election.
Lawal, a former Commissioner for Justice and attorney-General of Oyo State under Alhaji Lam Adesina hail from Kishi, Irepo Local Government area of the state.
He is also the current Chairman of the Oyo State Housing Corporation.
Makinde’s rejection of his deputy did not come as a surprise as the two of them have been at logger heads for sometime now.
Olaniyan is said to have on a number of occasion complained bitterly about being sidelined
in the running of affairs of the state by Makinde.
Olaniyan was a governorship aspirant in the African Democratic Congress before the party entered into an alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party before the 2019 election.
It was reportedly agreed that Olaniyan would drop his governorship ambition and become the running mate to Makinde.
Some reports had claimed that the deputy governor planned to leave the PDP but he recently debunked the rumours, stating that he would remain in the party.
