Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State says the 2027 presidential election will be between Nigerians and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and not the APC versus his party, the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“The 2027 election won’t be PDP versus APC; it would be Nigerians versus APC. Mark my word on that,” the governor said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday.

Makinde blamed the APC government for the wobbling economy and the escalating security challenges in the country, saying that the next poll will be judgment time for the Bola Tinubu presidency.

The Oyo governor boasted that his party remained the hope of the common man, stressing that the PDP won’t make the mistake that made it lose the 2023 presidential poll.

Drawing lessons from the last poll, Makinde said his party made a grave mistake by handing the presidential ticket, the national chairman slot and the office of the director general of the presidential campaign to members from the northern region only.

He said the exclusion of southerners from the three major slots dealt a self-inflicted blow to the PDP as culminated in the loss suffered by the party in the poll. In the build-up to the last poll, Iyorchia Ayu from the North Central was the PDP national chairman, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from the North East was the party’s flag bearer whilst Aminu Tambuwal from the North West was the Atiku’s campaign director general.

“If the three main influential positions to take us to the election were occupied by the North East, the North Central, and the North West, how do we sell that position all around the country?” Makinde argued.

‘PDP’s 2023 Ticket Would Have Been Stronger With Wike As Atiku’s Running Mate’

The Oyo governor also said the PDP ticket would have been stronger had Atiku picked then Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike as his running mate.

“So, it was self-inflicted. There wouldn’t have been G5. The day after the convention, I went to my good friend, Governor (Ahmadu) Fintiri of Adamawa State and I said: ‘Look, make this a unity ticket, get Governor Wike, let us appeal to him, let him be on that ticket’.

“It would have been a stronger ticket to face the APC but all the people around our candidate rejected it. We met with him in London, he rejected it and he came back and said we’ve moved on.

“We’ve seen the result now and we don’t want to walk that path again.

“PDP should have still been in power up until now but some people walked out of Eagle Square. We knew who they were and we lost power at the federal level due to that action. The same thing repeated itself in 2023. We should pull back and say, look, this party remains the major hope of the common man.” (Channels TV)