Makinde declares for presidency announcing he will stand as a PDP/APM alliance candidate

GOVERNOR Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has joined the growing list of Nigeria's presidential aspirants declaring his intention to stand for office next year as the candidate of an alliance between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).

Elected in 2019 on the platform of the PDP, Governor Makinde's eight year tenure in office will end next year. Over recent years, he has become a prominent national figure within the PDP but the party is in disarray, with two factions, making it weak when compared with the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC).

With the Nigerian opposition highly fractured at the moment, the APC looks set to win next year's elections, with incumbent President Bola Tinubu on course to win a second term. However, at a rally in Ibadan yesterday, Governor Makinde said he would stand as a joint PDP/APM candidate.

Governor Makinde said: “The time to reset Nigeria is now. Therefore, today, I, Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde, announce my candidacy for the position of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria."

He added that  the country’s situation has continued to deteriorate, putting the majority of Nigerians on survival mode daily. According to the governor, government officials responsible for citizens’ welfare have abdicated their duties.

“This is why, for the past several months, one question has been at the top of my mind - where do we go from here? Is this how we should continue as a nation? We have been pushed to the wall with the belief that we will turn against ourselves or worst still, that we will become too weary to survive on a daily basis to fight back.

“They said opposition cannot unite but I am here today to say that it is a miscalculation. The opposition in Nigeria is not just a political party, the opposition is the everyday Nigerian for whom the country does not work,” Governor Makinde said.

He pointed out that the alliance between the PDP and APM would enable the former ruling party to field candidates for all positions in the 2027 general election. Between 1999 and 2015, the PDP was the governing party in Nigeria, producing four presidents and Governor Makinde is looking to return them to power.

Governor Makinde added: “So today in Ibadan, the first grand alliance is formed. between the PDP and the APM.  This handshake will allow us to field candidates at all levels. We will field candidates from top to bottom and we will field candidates from the presidency to state assemblies and everything in between."

Earlier on in the day, Governor Makinde had led the Taminu Turaki faction of the PDP in Oyo State to sign a memorandum of understanding with the APM as part of a strategic alliance. He and the APM national chairman Yusuf Dantalle, signed the agreement on behalf of both parties.

Under the terms of the agreement, candidates of the PDP faction contesting for governorship, Senate, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly seats are expected to run on the platform of the APM rather than the PDP in the 2027 elections. It is expected that in return, the APM will support the PDP in governorship and presidential elections.