Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and presidential candidate of the Allied People’s Movement (APM) has pledged a complete overhaul of Nigeria’s security architecture, fair pricing of petroleum products, and a guaranteed food security framework if elected President in 2027.
Speaking on Thursday in Ibadan during his official declaration for the forthcoming general election, Makinde dismissed as untenable the paradox of an oil-producing nation whose citizens groan under poverty driven by post-colonial policies that impose international pricing on domestic fuel.
“What social contract exists between the government and ordinary Nigerians when millions are reduced to begging for survival due to the failed leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, under whom no visible development has occurred?” he queried.
The Governor criticised the current security arrangement, noting: “We are made Chief Security Officers of our states without the necessary apparatus or control over security agencies. Citizens are trapped under the threat of banditry, kidnappings, cattle rustling, and other crimes, while security operatives play politics under the guise of leadership.”
He lamented that for weeks, residents of Oyo, Borno, and other states have remained in the custody of kidnappers, with no tangible intervention from the Federal Government. “It is time to reset our nation for transparent, people-centred development and abandon wasteful ventures that bear no direct relevance to Nigerians’ lives.”
Promising to replicate Oyo State’s holistic development of the past seven years at the federal level, Makinde assured Nigerians of a homegrown agricultural system founded on stable government policies for farmers, leading to large-scale bumper harvests. He called on Nigerians to support his bid, as demonstrated by the people of the South-West, insisting that leadership rooted in the people’s welfare drives transformative progress.
He further pledged to lead with the fear of God and prioritise citizens’ welfare above all.
Earlier, the APM National Chairman, Alhaji Yusuf Mamman Dantalle, described Governor Makinde’s affirmation by delegates and chairmen from all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory as the most transparent and acceptable. “Only Makinde can lead this nation to the promised land in the next dispensation,” Dantalle declared.
He lamented that the era of Nigerians clamouring for ‘Ghana Must Go’ bags had given way to a more troubling reality: “Nigeria Must Go,” as witnessed in South Africa—a nation whose freedom Nigerians once fought tirelessly for. Dantalle passed a vote of confidence in Makinde’s ability to govern conscientiously, with the fear of God.
The Governor was thereafter presented with his certificate of return and decorated with the APM flag.
