April 17, (THEWILL) – Actor turned politician, Rotimi Makinde, has not given up on politics yet. The erstwhile lawmaker, who once represented Ife Federal Constituency in Osun State at the 7th National Assembly in 2011 under the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), is planning to contest in the 2023 House of Representatives election in Osun State under the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
Makinde hopes to reclaim the House of Reps seat he lost to rival Albert Adeogun of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2015. Some of his loyalists have already started canvassing support on his behalf. Some of them are distributing flyers declaring him as the preferred candidate of the APC.
He is currently consulting with the elders of his party, particularly those at the helm who are in a position to give his ambition a deserved nod.
Makinde’s political ambition suffered a major setback in 2015 after losing to the candidate of the major opposition party. The lawmaker had spent most of his fortune in a lavish wedding to ex-beauty queen, Oyebanke Oyelami, in 2013. He was almost broke and hoped to rise again financially after his re-election.
In a bid to secure his seat at the National Assembly, he allegedly donated a large sum of money to a Ahmed Bola Tinubu as his contribution to the burial of the latter’s mother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, who died in 2014. The gesture had signaled his intention to ‘water the ground’ ahead of the 2015 election. Unfortunately, he lost at the polls.
Makinde had bitterly complained of the forces of intimidation and harassment that were used to manipulate the election. The lawmaker was in shock for a long time because the money invested in his re-election went down the drain. He immediately withdrew into his shell and set up Oodua FM in Ajebandele, Ife, Osun State while nursing his wounds for a long time.
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