On June 11, 2024, Reuben Abati, a veteran journalist and special adviser on Media and Publicity to ex President Goodluck Jonathan between 2011 and 2015, made a claim in his Tuesday column, published in ThisDay.
In the first three paragraphs, he said “Seyi Makinde is the Governor of Oyo State (PDP), the only Governor to have broken the jinx of a second term in office in Oyo State. Elected in 2019, he has just completed the first year of his second term in that office. Previous Governors in that state before him since Bola Ige in the Second Republic, Omololu Olunloyo, Lam Adesina, Rasheed Ladoja, Adebayo Alao-Akala, Abiola Ajimobi did only one term in office.”
According to the column published in This Day, he made two similar claims in the first and third paragraphs.
Claim I: Seyi Makinda is the only governor to have broken the jinx of a second term in office in Oyo State.
Verification:
On May 29, 2019, Seyi Makinde was sworn in as the elected governor of Oyo State to succeed (late) Abiola Ajimobi. Seyi Makinde won his re-election and was sworn in for the second term on May 29, 2023.
The CDD War Room found that the former governor, Abiola Ajimobi, who handed over to Seyi Makinde, spent eight years as the governor of Oyo State. He was first sworn in as elected governor on May 29, 2011. He won his re-election and was sworn in for a second term as the first governor to be re-elected in Oyo State.
We can therefore confirm that Abiola Ajimobi was the first governor to have broken the jinx of a second term in office in Oyo State and not Seyi Makinde.
Verdict: INACCURATE
Claim II: Previous Oyo State governors in the second republic did only one term.
Verification:
According to the claim, Bola Ige, Omololu Olunloyo, Lam Adesina, Rasheed Ladoja, Adebayo Alao-Akala, and Abiola Ajimobi did only one term in office.
The CDD War Room found that Abiola Ajimobi did two terms having won the gubernatorial election twice and was sworn in as governor on May 29, 2011 and May 29, 2015, respectively. We also confirmed that all the past governors of Oyo State, except Abiola Ajimobi and Seyi Makinde, did only one term.
Verdict: INACCURATE