The Oyo State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has responded to Senator Teslim Folarin’s claim that he lost the 2023 governorship election due to the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) arrangements to win the presidency. The PDP stated that Folarin, the APC’s governorship candidate, is no match for Governor Seyi Makinde, who contested on the ruling party’s platform.
In a statement by the PDP’s Publicity Secretary in Oyo State, Akeem Olatunji, it was described Folarin as a sore serial loser seeking a political comeback by blaming his political misfortune on Governor Seyi Makinde, whom he should regard as his political master. Olatunji reminded Folarin that he lost his polling booth, ward, and local government in the election where he was the gubernatorial candidate.
The statement further highlighted that Folarin had only become a senator by chance in 2003 and 2007 and owed his political success to the late Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, who supported him. The PDP emphasized that Folarin could never have won any election on his own like Makinde did to become governor.
The party also dismissed Folarin as an overrated politician and claimed that his electoral success in 2019 was due to the “Tinubu effect.” Olatunji urged Folarin to retire from politics and stop denying the reality that politics has evolved beyond the era of political hooliganism.
“So, who threw him under the bus in his polling booth, Ward and local government? Furthermore, Folarin was a nobody as far as Oyo State politics was concerned in 2003 and 2007 when as an opportunist he became a Senator by chance,” the statement said.
The PDP concluded by questioning why Folarin continues to harbor self-hatred and delusions, emphasizing that Makinde is not his political equal and does not belong to his class or league of politicians.
Olatunji, who described Folarin as a political orphan