Makinde Denies Receiving ₦50bn From Tinubu, Rejects Wike’s Claim On Ibadan Airport

Oyo State Governor and Allied Peoples Movement presidential candidate, Seyi Makinde, has rejected a claim by Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike that the Federal Government provided ₦50 billion to the state for the upgrade of the Ibadan International Airport.

According to Bush Radio Academy, Makinde addressed the issue on Tuesday during the Makinde/Daura 2027 Presidential Town Hall meeting in Katsina, after Wike claimed during a television programme that the Bola Tinubu administration had supported Oyo State with ₦50 billion for the airport project.

Wike had made the claim while appearing on TVC’s Journalists’ Hangout on Monday, where he said Tinubu’s administration had provided financial support for Makinde’s plan to upgrade the airport to international standards.

Responding to the claim, Makinde said Oyo State did not receive the alleged ₦50 billion from the Federal Government and maintained that the airport upgrade was being financed entirely by the state.

“I want to say that claim is false. The President did not give me or Oyo State N50 billion to upgrade the Ibadan Airport. The Ibadan Airport upgrade project is being undertaken 100 per cent with the funds of Oyo State,” Makinde said.

The dispute centres on the ongoing upgrade of the Samuel Ladoke Akintola International Airport in Ibadan, which Makinde’s administration commenced in September 2024. According to reporting on the project, the initial cost was put at ₦41 billion, while the domestic terminal upgrade was completed in October 2025 and work on the international terminal remains ongoing.

Makinde’s media aide, Sulaimon Olanrewaju, also rejected Wike’s account, saying the state government had no record of a ₦50 billion Federal Government approval for the airport project. He said the state’s understanding of the presidential approval was that the upgrade would be carried out at no cost to the Federal Government.

The disagreement has added another dimension to the political differences between Makinde and Wike, who were previously associated through the Peoples Democratic Party’s G5 governors’ group but have since taken different political positions ahead of the 2027 general elections.

For now, the two politicians have presented conflicting accounts of the alleged ₦50 billion funding, with Wike maintaining that the Federal Government supported the airport project and Makinde insisting that Oyo State financed the upgrade without the alleged Federal Government funding.