The Presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) Seyi Makinde has said the Southwest will have to choose between him and President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.
Makinde who is also the governor of Oyo State defended his decision to contest the presidency despite Tinubu an indigene of the same geopolitical zone seeking re-election.
He spoke on Thursday in Akure the Ondo State capital at the zonal town hall meeting of the opposition APM.
Makinde who attended the meeting alongside his running mate Mamman Lawal Daura and Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed argued that the emergence of two presidential candidates from the Southwest would not be unusual.
He insisted that voters should be allowed to choose their preferred candidate based on merit rather than regional considerations.
Makinde recalled the 1999 presidential election when the Southwest geo-political zone produced Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Oba Olu Falae as the candidates of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Alliance for Democracy (AD).
Makinde said the precedent showed that the region could produce multiple presidential candidates without undermining its political interests.
‘People have been asking me: why are you contesting in this election when the Southwest already has somebody seated on that seat? And I have explained to them we do have an example here in the Southwest.
‘When in 1999 the entire Nigeria ceded the presidency to the Southwest and we had two of our fathers Baba President Obasanjo and our Baba Olu Falae they contested the presidency both from the Southwest.
‘And heaven did not fall. As a matter of fact what Southwest did was to present two of their finest two of their best candidates for Nigeria to choose from. Is there anything wrong with that this time around?’ he asked.
The APM candidate dismissed concerns that his ambition could jeopardise the Southwest’s chances of retaining the presidency arguing that the region should not be restricted to supporting a single candidate.
He also promised to revive the country’s economy and address challenges confronting key sectors if elected president in 2027.
Makinde said his proposed Reset Nigeria Agenda would focus on economic recovery education security prosperity and the country’s socio-political environment.
‘The Reset Nigeria Agenda will fix our economy educational system security architecture expand our economy tax prosperity and socio-political environment. We want to reset Nigeria and the Southwest Zone. We are very much ready to reset Nigeria. I am a reset agent’ he said.
He urged Nigerians to participate actively in the electoral process by obtaining their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) saying the country needed a system that worked for everyone rather than a privileged few.
‘All of you get into the scheme. Be a reset agent get your PVC and we will reset Nigeria. We want a Nigeria that works for everybody. It is not Nigeria that works for very few. We said no to a turn-by-turn Nigeria’ he said.
According to him the agenda would prioritise taxing prosperity rather than poverty and protecting the democratic and federalist principles established by the country’s founding leaders.
‘Our forefathers worked really hard to give us federalism to give us multi-party democracy’ he added.
Earlier Mohammed said the APM was determined to reset the country promising that a Makinde-led administration would create jobs for unemployed youths.
Mohammed who is also the party’s national leader warned individuals allegedly working against Makinde’s leadership to stop actions capable of creating divisions within the party.
He accused some individuals of attempting to infiltrate the party and destabilise its ranks urging members to remain vigilant against such efforts.
The Bauchi governor said those seeking to undermine the party’s leadership would not succeed adding that the party was prepared to take lawful measures against them if they failed to desist.
‘I would like to remind all of us to beware of detractors. Some people out of desperation have already started or resorted to trying to infiltrate our ranks to cause some kind of destruction’ he said.
He added ‘But I say to them they are late. And I am warning if they do not desist we will definitely take measures as allowed by the law to make sure that we shame them. This is not an empty threat.’
Mohammed urged party members to scrutinise those seeking to associate with them and resist attempts to distract them from their political objectives.
The National Chairman of the APM Yusuf Dantalle said Nigerians needed a change in the country’s political direction insisting that citizens must take responsibility for fixing the nation.
‘It is high time to change the narrative; the will of the people must be done. Nobody will fix Nigeria for us unless we rise to fix the country by ourselves.
‘It’s only Seyi Makinde who can fix the country from the damage being done by the APC-led ruling administration’ Dantalle said.