Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has declared that the 2027 presidential election will not merely be a contest between Nigeria’s two dominant political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but a referendum between Nigerians and the ruling APC.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday night, Makinde delivered a searing critique of the APC-led federal government, citing economic mismanagement and rising insecurity as key issues that would define the next general election.
“The 2027 election won’t be PDP versus APC; it would be Nigerians versus APC. Mark my word on that,” the governor asserted, placing the onus of governance failures squarely on the shoulders of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Makinde, a key figure in the opposition PDP and a member of the now-dissolved G5 governors, lamented that strategic missteps within his party had contributed to its loss in the 2023 general election. According to him, PDP made a fatal political error by concentrating its three most influential campaign positions, the presidential candidate, national chairman, and campaign director general, in Nigeria’s northern region, thereby alienating the South.
“In the build-up to the last poll, the presidential ticket went to the North East, the national chairman came from the North Central, and the campaign DG was from the North West. So, how do you sell that arrangement across the country?” he asked rhetorically.
Makinde argued that a more inclusive ticket would have strengthened the PDP’s chances against the APC. He recalled urging party leaders to consider the then-Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, as Atiku Abubakar’s running mate to create what he described as a “unity ticket.”
“I told Governor Fintiri of Adamawa State, ‘Let’s get Wike on board. Appeal to him, make it a unity ticket.’ But the people around our candidate refused. We met in London to resolve it, but it was dismissed. We moved on—and we all saw the result,” he explained.
The governor expressed deep regret that internal divisions and power plays within the PDP undermined what could have been a more formidable challenge to the APC in 2023. “It was a self-inflicted wound,” he said. “There wouldn’t have been a G5 if that advice had been heeded.”
Makinde also reminded viewers that similar strategic blunders cost the PDP the presidency in 2015, when prominent party figures walked out of the national convention at Eagle Square. “We knew those behind it. The same thing happened again in 2023. It’s time to reflect and admit that this party remains the hope of the common man,” he concluded.
© Ripples Nigeria