Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State says the exit of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will not have any setback for the party.

Mr Makinde, the keynote speaker at a colloquium of the 10th Coronation Anniversary of Aladetoyinbo Aladelusi, Deji of Akure, stated this in an interview with journalists on Wednesday in Akure.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Atiku resigned his PDP membership on Wednesday in Adamawa State.

“ I don’t think that will make any dent on PDP as a party. PDP is an institution, and you have freedom of entrance and exit,” he said.

The governor said that he did not see the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as a threat to PDP but as a mere political party intended to contest in elections as PDP.

Mr Makinde was one of the five PDP governors who opposed Atiku as the party’s presidential candidate in 2023. The others were the then-governors Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Samuel Ortom (Benue) and Nyesom Wike (Rivers), the current minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

Earlier, Mr Makinde described traditional institutions as a heritage of the country, asking the government to give them due reverence for national development.

The title of the lecture was: “The Role of Nigeria’s Traditional Institutions in Nation Building: Impediments, Impacts, and Prospects.”

He said traditional institutions are not relics of the past but enduring pillars of identity, legitimacy, and communal cohesion.

“Long before Nigeria’s formal administrative systems took root, traditional rulers dispensed justice, upheld values, coordinated local security, and kept communities united.

“Today, they remain custodians of grassroots trust and nation-building that ignores them does so at its peril.. No wonder politicians continue to seek their blessings and validation,” he said.

According to him, strengthening traditional institutions is not simply about cultural preservation but strategic governance.

He stated that his government had taken deliberate steps to integrate traditional institutions into the governance architecture, which resulted in great success for Oyo State.

The governor stated that the nation-building was not about how much oil the country produced but about the strength of institutions, their ability to serve the people justly, and the legacy they leave behind.

Appreciating the governor, Mr Aladelusi said that traditional institutions had a pivotal role in nation building, hence the need for the country’s constitution to strengthen them.

The traditional ruler, who said that Akure was one without any division, commended the state government, sons, and daughters of the town for their support of the Deji palace.

(NAN)