The presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, has said the outcome of the 2027 presidential election will be determined by Nigerians and not by the financial strength of political parties or their candidates.

Makinde spoke in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, on Monday during the North-Central leg of his zonal town hall engagements ahead of the 2027 polls. The North-Central meeting was part of a series of engagements scheduled across the six geopolitical zones.

His speech appeared directed at President Bola Tinubu, who is the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The governor said neither opinion polls, political calculations, nor the number of wealthy individuals backing a party would determine who wins the election, stressing that voters would have the final say.

He stated, “This 2027 election will not be determined by politics, by pollsters, or by the number of multimillionaires in your party. This election is not going to be determined by the number of millionaires you have in your corner, or how many billions you have to spend.

“This election will be determined by the people of Nigeria.”

Makinde said he had travelled from Ibadan to Abuja before proceeding by road to Lafia, where he met with APM candidates from the North-Central zone until the early hours of Monday. He said the demands of effective governance required even greater commitment and energy than campaigning.

According to him, his experience in Oyo State demonstrated the importance of engaging citizens in the process of governance, citing the ongoing preparations for the state’s 2027 budget.

Makinde said the Oyo State Government had, over the past seven years, consulted residents across its geopolitical zones to determine their priorities for inclusion in the annual budget.

He, however, questioned the Federal Government’s planning for the expansion of army divisions to tackle insecurity, saying he could not find a corresponding budgetary provision for the initiative in the 2026 budget.

“If they have it in the budget that they prepared for 2026, let them bring it out. You cannot just wake up and say, without any plan, I am setting up or expanding army divisions to tackle insecurity.

“There has to be a lot of planning that will go into this,” he argued.

The APM candidate also argued that increased revenue accruing to state governments had not translated into an improvement in living conditions, particularly in addressing hunger.

He said Oyo State’s dependence on federal allocation had fallen from more than 80 per cent when he assumed office in 2019 to 65 per cent by 2022, but had risen again to almost 80 per cent since 2023, which he attributed to what he described as the Federal Government’s “voodoo economy”.

Makinde said his “Reset Nigeria” agenda could be implemented within four years, with priorities including a new security architecture, improved education, an economy driven by data, science and logic, and a reset of the country’s socio-political environment.

“I am a reseter. Are you a reseter? Yes, together we shall reset this country,” he told the gathering, adding that, if elected president on 29 May 2027, he would run a transitional government of national unity aimed at producing “new players and a new agenda for Nigeria’s sustainable development.”

His running mate, Alhaji Lawal Daura, praised the turnout at the engagement, noting that it reflected Nigerians’ desire for positive change, adding that the APM’s approach was based on sincerity, honesty, commitment and a focus on results.

Daura pointed out that Nigerians had endured poverty, insecurity and other social problems for too long, stressing that the party would seek to deliver measurable improvements rather than merely repeat previous approaches.

Also speaking, APM’s National Chairman, Mr Yusuf Dantalle, described the North-Central as strategic to Nigeria’s unity and development and called for a different approach to governance.

Dantalle cited poor roads, insecurity and rising energy costs as challenges facing the region and urged Nigerians to examine Makinde’s record in Oyo State as a basis for assessing his claims about governance.

He appealed to supporters to spread the party’s message and mobilise voters around what he described as the APM’s “Nigeria First Project”, urging Nigerians to participate in what he called “Operation Talk to Somebody” ahead of the 2027 election. (Nigerian Tribune)