Oyo State Governor and presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, Seyi Makinde, says the South-West can present two presidential candidates in the 2027 general elections, despite President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.
Makinde spoke on Thursday at the Makinde-Daura 2027 Presidential Town Hall Meeting for the South-West, held at the Olusegun Mimiko International Event Centre in Akure.
He argued that Tinubu’s position as president should not prevent another candidate from the South-West from contesting the election, noting that the region has the right to offer Nigerians an alternative choice.
“People have asked us why we are contesting this election when the South-West already has somebody occupying that seat.
“There is nothing wrong with my decision to contest the 2027 presidential election against Tinubu despite both of us coming from the South-West geopolitical zone.
“The choice of who governs Nigeria should not be determined solely by geographical considerations, but by competence, capacity and the ability to deliver good governance.
“My ambition is driven by the desire to provide Nigerians with an alternative leadership capable of addressing the country’s economic, security and developmental challenges.
“The South-West region presented two presidential candidates during the 1999 general election, when former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Chief Olu Falae contested against each other.
“The development did not create any crisis but rather provided Nigerians with an opportunity to choose between two prominent candidates from the same region.
“As a matter of fact, what the South-West did was to present two of its finest, two of its best, for Nigeria to choose from. Is there anything wrong with that this time around?” he asked.
The APM candidate said his campaign would focus on energy and the capacity to govern rather than age, stressing that the country needed leadership capable of addressing its challenges and improving the lives of citizens.
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“Having energy, being able to stay up late and having the strength to deal with the challenges we face as a country are important. We want a Nigeria that works for everybody. It is not a Nigeria that works for a very few.
“We will work on the security architecture of Nigeria such that our economy will not shut down at 8 p.m. We will expand our economy.
“When people are productive, they become prosperous. When they are prosperous, tax prosperity. Don’t tax poverty. The Reset Agenda is for us to tax prosperity, not poverty,” he said.
The National Chairman of APM, Yusuf Dantale, said the party’s objective was to transform the country’s leadership and make governance more responsive to the people.
“We have a National Assembly, who are not seen to be representative of the people. What is democracy? It is about everybody coming together to decide,” he said.
Bauchi State Gov. Balsa Mohammed also expressed confidence in the party’s candidates, describing them as young and energetic leaders capable of delivering democratic dividends.
“We are young, we are driven by plans, Makinde has done it at sub-national level, he can fix Nigeria. Today, we are the biggest competition in the country.
“We believe in rotation, live and let live. It is not about posters and billboards, it’s about the mind. We believe in him,” he said.
Meanwhile, Eddy Olafeso, the South-West Zonal Coordinator of the Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Council, commended state directors for their commitment to the campaign and readiness to work towards the candidate’s success.
“The mission for us is to redefine the commitment to Nigeria, the responsibility of government is to serve the people and not the other way round,” he said.
NAN
