“Even the gods Have No Political Party, but Makinde Has Two”: Abiodun Makinde, a Man Twice As Tall in Politics
“Even the gods have no political party, but Makinde has two,” has become a political metaphor circulating among supporters and critics as Seyi Makinde continues to navigate Nigeria’s complex opposition politics, where party loyalty and internal alignments often overlap in practice.
The comment reflects the ongoing tensions within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
One of the central fault lines in the crisis has been the prolonged disagreement between PDP stakeholders aligned with Makinde and those associated with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, whose bloc has remained influential in shaping party decisions and internal contests.
These disagreements have played out through political negotiations and court interpretations of party leadership authority, including Supreme Court decisions that addressed aspects of internal party disputes, even as underlying factional tensions within the PDP persisted.
Within this broader national context, Makinde has maintained a firm hold on the PDP structure in Oyo State, consolidating grassroots organisation and party coordination while also engaging in wider discussions involving opposition strategy in the South-West.
Against this backdrop, today in Ibadan, supporters of the PDP and Allied Peoples Movement (APM) gathered at Mapo Hill for a rally that reflected ongoing efforts to strengthen political alignment at the state level amid national-level divisions within the party.
At the gathering, cassava stems and tubers were used as symbolic items, with participants describing them as representations of agricultural identity, economic resilience, and grassroots political mobilisation ahead of future elections.
Participants repeatedly raised cassava during chants and coordinated displays, while also referencing unity within Oyo’s PDP structure despite wider national factional divisions.
Thus, the phrase “even the gods have no party, but Makinde has two” emerged among supporters as a political metaphor, referring to his firm control of PDP structures in Oyo State while also navigating the party’s internal divisions and shifting alliances at the national level.