Adelabu’s New Love for Makinde

In politics as in any other pursuit of invested interests, personal vision is an important asset. For Bayo Adelabu,  the new Minister of Power, this asset has demonstrated its value in the identification of friends and rivals. Thus, Adelabu’s growing amity with Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde is neither a fluke nor fake.

Political rivals seldom make up in the event of one emerging victorious and the other losing. But it does happen, as Adelabu and Makinde are showing. Adelabu’s position as former CBN Deputy Governor puts him at a height where he can better see the big picture, and as such is growing to love Makinde, his former rival, more and more.

The first sign of Adelabu’s love for Makinde was the congratulatory message he sent to the latter in March 2023. That was after Makinde had polled 563,756 votes to come in first position in the gubernatorial election. Makinde was followed by Teslim Folarin of All Progressive Congress (APC) who got 256,685 votes, and Adelabu came in third position with 38,357 votes.

Despite coming in behind Makinde and being of a rival party (Accord Party), Adelabu extended a generous hand of fellowship to Makinde. And recognizing that gesture for what it is, Makinde was quick to return it, anchoring the root of their friendship to honesty and conscience.

Now that Adelabu is minister, his peers can take a leaf out of his notebook. Good work will be recognized one way or another, however long it takes. With President Bola Tinubu in power, it is not surprising that Adelabu got the top position. Even so, Adelabu’s willingness to let go and make friends with former rivals proves him to be worthy of trust.

With all these in view, why shouldn’t Adelabu love Makinde all the more? One might even say that Makinde is his lucky charm and the necessary condition for his crouching to leap to greater heights.