Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has stated that the presidential election in 2027 will be a contest between the Nigerian populace and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), rather than a competition between the APC and his party, the primary opposition, the 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 criticized the APC government for the faltering economy and rising security issues in the nation, asserting that the upcoming election will serve as a reckoning for Bola Tinubu’s presidency.
The governor of Oyo expressed confidence that his party represents the aspirations of the average citizen, emphasizing that the PDP will not repeat the errors that led to its defeat in the 2023 presidential election.
Reflecting on the previous election, Makinde acknowledged that the party made a significant error by exclusively awarding the presidential nomination, the national chairmanship, and the director general position of the presidential campaign to individuals from the northern region.
He pointed out that the lack of representation for southerners in these key roles resulted in a detrimental impact on the PDP, contributing to the party’s electoral loss. Leading up to the last election, Iyorchia Ayu from North Central served as the PDP national chairman, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from North East was the party’s candidate, and Aminu Tambuwal from North West held the position of campaign director general for Atiku.
“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.
The Oyo governor stated that the PDP ticket would have been more robust if Atiku had chosen Nyesom Wike, the then Governor of Rivers State, 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.”
