Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has officially declared his intention to contest the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the Allied Peoples Movement.
The governor made this known on Thursday at the joint mega-rally of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Allied Peoples Movement held at Mapo Hall in Ibadan, the state capital.
“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 said.
Makinde said the country’s situation has “continued to deteriorate, putting the majority of Nigerians on survival mode daily.
The governor added that 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,” Makinde said.
Makinde said the alliance between the PDP and APM would enable the former ruling party to field candidates for all positions in the 2027 general election.
“So today in Ibadan, the first grand alliance is formed. The alliance of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).
“This handshake will allow us to field candidates at all levels. We will field candidates from top to bottom. We will field candidates from the presidency to state assemblies, and everything in between,” Makinde said.
Makinde had earlier 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 for the forthcoming elections.
The governor and the National Chairman of the APM, Yusuf Dantalle, signed the agreement on behalf of both parties.
Under 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.
The Punch
