Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo has praised the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, saying the former Lagos governor’s bid represents equity and fairness.

Mr Makinde, who is seeking re-election for a second term in office on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party, spoke on Thursday while playing host to Mr Tinubu in Ibadan, Oyo’s capital city.

“I will say that I wish you (Tinubu) well. It is only a couple of more days to go…(sic) but one thing from this visit today is the fact that we would vote for equity, fairness, and justice…So feel free to pass your message to our people,” the Oyo governor added.

The APC presidential candidate was in the ancient city in continuation of his campaigns. He was accompanied by staunch ally Bisi Akande and other party chieftains.

Mr Makinde had joined forces with fellow party man, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers to oppose their party’s leadership and its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar. Their dissent stemmed from the aftermath of the PDP primary election where Mr Abubakar defeated Mr Wike to clinch the party’s ticket.

Speaking further during Mr Tinubu’s visit on Thursday, Mr Makinde said that the unity of the country is paramount despite the division in political aspiration.

He said, “In the Integrity Group, we are saying that if we have to choose between the unity of this country and our political aspirations, we would choose the unity of this country.

“I look at the sacrifice made by our colleagues. The governors of APC from the northern parts of this country because they also built up your emergence and they sacrificed for the unity of this country.”

He added that for Nigeria to move forward as a country “we would have to be involved in the system in such that there is fairness, equity, justice in how we run this country.”