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| Seyi Makinde |
YOLA, Adamawa State — Standing before stakeholders from across Nigeria’s North-East on Saturday, Oyo State Governor and Allied Peoples Movement (APM) presidential candidate Seyi Makinde delivered a pointed critique of the Tinubu administration and a clear political pitch tailored to regional anxieties: the 2027 general election, he insisted, must mark the end of “politics of deceit and lies.”
Speaking at the APM North-East Town Hall Meeting in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, Makinde framed his candidacy as a national “reset.” He promised that an APM government sworn in on May 29, 2027, would be a transitional administration of national unity lasting no more than four years, inclusive of all regions, and committed to telling Nigerians “the exact truth.”
“I want to say to you that 2027 will mark the end of the politics of lies and deceit. It is a time when we will all come together to establish a reset agenda and tell Nigerians the whole truth,” Makinde said. “Nigeria is home to several million people. We are the most populous Black nation on the face of the earth. We do not deserve what we are getting right now.”
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Critiquing Unfulfilled Promises and Economic Hardship
Makinde zeroed in on what he described as the Tinubu administration’s broken pledges. He recalled the president’s campaign-era assurance that if electricity was not fixed within four years, Nigerians should not re-elect him. “So, we are all aware that they have failed to provide electricity and other things they promised. So, I believe we all know how to cast our ballots,” he told the gathering.
He listed other policy shortfalls: the presidential push for compressed natural gas (CNG) and electric vehicles, which he said had failed, and the naira-for-crude initiative, which he also judged unsuccessful. He noted recent comments by the Minister of Finance about shifting to “price modulation” for petroleum products and challenged the Federal Government to publish its full pricing template.
“We are asking for only two things. We do not want too much grammar; we just want relief for Nigerians.
So, we ask the Federal Government to release its pricing template so that citizens will know how they arrived at the current petroleum price and let Nigerians see how things go,” Makinde said. “The fact that you are in government or the Presidential Villa does not make you the only Nigerians with sense. We have other citizens who can dissect issues and proffer solutions.”
The call for transparency on fuel pricing taps into widespread public frustration. Since the 2023 subsidy removal, pump prices have fluctuated amid inflation, currency pressures, and questions over how official prices are calculated. Makinde’s demand is both a policy critique and a political signal: that governance should be open to scrutiny and alternative ideas rather than top-down pronouncements.
A One-Term Promise Aimed at Northern Concerns
Particularly significant in the North-East setting was Makinde’s explicit answer to questions about power-sharing and regional inclusion. Northern stakeholders have long voiced concerns that successive southern presidencies risk concentrating influence and resources. Makinde addressed this head-on.
“People have asked me, especially in the northern part of the country, what kind of arrangements we are going to put in place to ensure inclusivity and ensure that power is not concentrated in one part of the country to the detriment of the other,” he said. “I stand before you today to tell you that the government you will put in place from May 29, 2027, will be a transitional government of national unity. Our government will not last beyond four years. And it will be an all-inclusive government.”
The one-term commitment is a calculated move. By limiting himself to a single four-year term framed as transitional, Makinde positions an APM victory as a bridge rather than a permanent southern hold on the presidency, potentially easing northern skepticism. He has previously argued that meaningful national “reset” — new security architecture, education reforms, data-driven economic management, and socio-political renewal — is achievable within that timeframe, citing historical precedents of short but transformative leadership periods.
APM’s Reset Agenda and the Road to 2027
Makinde’s Yola appearance forms part of a deliberate consultative strategy. The APM has delayed full release of its manifesto while conducting zonal town halls to gather input from different regions. Earlier engagements in the North-Central and North-West similarly highlighted insecurity, poverty, and energy shortages as recurring themes. The party’s national leader, Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, was present in Yola and publicly endorsed Makinde, stressing the North-East’s electoral weight and promising massive support.
The APM ticket pairs Makinde with a northern running mate (Lawal Daura has featured prominently in campaign messaging), reinforcing the inclusivity narrative. Makinde, an engineer by training who has governed Oyo State since 2019, presents himself as a technocratic alternative focused on competence, transparency, and practical solutions rather than rhetoric.
Critics of the current administration point to persistent challenges: elevated living costs following subsidy removal and naira reforms, uneven electricity supply despite policy announcements, and security concerns that remain acute in parts of the North-East and elsewhere. Supporters of President Bola Tinubu argue that structural reforms take time to yield results and that removing long-standing subsidies was necessary for fiscal sustainability. Makinde’s approach is to argue that honesty about failures, combined with openness to citizen input, is the prerequisite for any genuine turnaround.
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What distinguishes Makinde’s message in Yola is the explicit linkage of truth-telling to electoral accountability. He is not merely promising better outcomes; he is inviting voters to treat unfulfilled 2023 pledges as a referendum. By demanding publication of the petroleum pricing template, he elevates a technical governance issue into a test of transparency. And by voluntarily capping his own tenure, he attempts to defuse the zero-sum regional competition that has often defined Nigerian presidential politics.
Whether this resonates will depend on voters’ appetite for a “reset” narrative in a crowded field and on the APM’s ability to translate town-hall energy into nationwide organisation. For now, the Yola gathering offered a clear statement of intent: an administration that listens, admits problems, includes all regions, and measures success by tangible relief rather than political spin.
Makinde closed with a direct pledge to the North-East and the country: “We will be sincere in finding solutions to the challenges that we are faced with. We will not play politics. We will not undermine your rights. We will ensure that we tell you the exact truth. We will listen to you. Solutions can come from anywhere.”
In a political culture long accused of over-promising and under-delivering, that commitment to candour may prove either a powerful differentiator or simply another campaign line tested by the realities of governance. The 2027 election will ultimately decide.
Samuel O. Sulaimon is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Naijapiz. He covers News, Sports, Finance, Faiths, Education, Technology.
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