I nominated Adekanmbi, but Tinubu chose Adelabu as Power Minister — Makinde

Abdullateef Fowewe

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde has said President Bola Tinubu selected Bayo Adelabu as Minister of Power despite his nomination of Bimbo Adekanmbi for a ministerial slot.

Makinde made the disclosure on Sunday during a media chat on Fresh FM in Ibadan, hosted by Mayor Isaac Brown.

He recounted discussions with the president after the 2023 elections, in which he said Tinubu initially requested a development economist for the budget and economic planning portfolio.

“I know Bayo. I contested against Bayo in 2019. He is a first-class material,” Makinde said of Adelabu.

He explained that he nonetheless nominated Adekanmbi, a former commissioner for finance under the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi, because of his experience in public financial management and role in stabilising that administration.

Tinubu later informed him of the decision to appoint Adelabu.

According to Makinde, the president then suggested he take ownership of the choice and present it as his own, but he declined, insisting the appointment was the president’s decision.

Makinde also addressed the G5 governors’ alliance that preceded the 2023 election.

He stated that Nyesom Wike, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, emerged as the ultimate beneficiary of that arrangement with Tinubu, while other members of the group saw limited gains from ministerial appointments.

The G5 referred to a group of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors, including Makinde and Wike, who broke ranks with the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the lead-up to the 2023 election. Some of them aligned with Tinubu’s campaign.

Adelabu, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, was appointed Minister of Power in August 2023.

He later resigned in April 2026 to pursue the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship ticket in Oyo State but subsequently stepped aside after the party’s primary process.

Adekanmbi, the candidate Makinde preferred for the federal appointment, is now the governorship candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and has been publicly endorsed by Makinde as his preferred successor ahead of the 2027 election.

Makinde has said he will not act as a political godfather to whoever succeeds him.