The presidential candidate of the Allied People’s Movement (APM), Engr. Seyi Makinde, said Nigerians will determine who becomes their next president in 2027, and not pollsters or moneybags.
Makinde, who spoke at a North Central town hall meeting of the party in Nasarawa State, said Nigerians need a president with energy and commitment to reset the country.
“If you go to Oyo State today, as I’m talking to you, we have started the process of preparing the 2027 budget.
“What we normally do is go around the geopolitical zones in the state to listen to them, to know what they would like us to include in the budget. This is what we have been doing for the past seven years,” he said.
The Oyo State governor, however, regretted that the reverse is the case at the federal level, noting that midway into 2026, Nigerians are still asking for the 2026 budget.
He stated that the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government expanded army divisions to 12 without budgetary provision
“I was looking for the item in that budget relating to the expansion of those army divisions. I did not see it.
“If they have it in the budget that they prepared for 2026, let them bring it out.
“You cannot just wake up and, without any plan, say, ‘I am setting up or expanding army divisions to tackle insecurity’.
“There has to be a lot of planning that will go into this,” he added.
Makinde said he is prepared to tackle the challenges facing the country through his reset agenda.
“The reset agenda can be completed in four years; after all, we had someone who was head of state in this country for 10 months, and he was able to end military rule and usher in the democracy that we now enjoy in Nigeria.
“We can reset this country and give Nigeria a new security architecture, a new path for education, reset our economy, utilising data, science and logic, and reset our socio-political environment in four years. That is our agenda,” he promised.
The candidate maintained that the 2027 presidential election would not be determined by the number of multimillionaires or how many billions a candidate spent.
“This election will be determined by the people of Nigeria,” he added.
The vice presidential candidate, Lawal Daura, said APM would run a sincere, honest, and dedicated government if it wins the next election.
He regretted that past administrations had the opportunity to fix the country, but they failed because they did not have the idea.
“It is always motion without movement. Ours is going to be motion with movement for the betterment of Nigerians and Nigeria.
“We have suffered enough. We need to have a change for the better,” Daura stated, adding that he bought Makinde’s reset agenda, “because without resetting Nigeria, how do you expect most of the things that have been done in the past to help?
“We want to see a positive change that can be authentically pointed out.”