Oyo State Gov. Seyi Makinde is defending his plan to challenge President Bola Tinubu in Nigeria’s 2027 election, saying voters should judge candidates by their governing ability rather than shared regional roots. He made the case at a campaign town hall in Akure on Oct. 22, TheCable reported.
Makinde cited the 1999 presidential contest between Olusegun Obasanjo and Olu Falae, whom he described as candidates from the South-West. TheCable and a NAN report carried by Premium Times said he argued that two contenders from the region could compete without triggering a crisis.
NAN reported that Makinde presented his candidacy as a different leadership approach to Nigeria’s economic, security and development problems. He said the presidency should go to a candidate with “competence, capacity and the ability to deliver good governance.” His campaign site calls its platform “Reset Nigeria” and says it centers on security, economic opportunity and a government that serves the public. The campaign organization has also criticized Tinubu over economic hardship, citing poverty, public borrowing and insecurity in a previous campaign warning.
The 1999 comparison comes with a disputed election record. The Carter Center’s contemporaneous account described voting procedures as generally peaceful but documented cases of ballot stuffing and overstated returns. It said it could not accurately assess the outcome. National returns gave Obasanjo 62% and Falae 38%; Falae denounced the process and told former U.S. President Jimmy Carter he would likely appeal the reported results.
The Independent National Electoral Commission’s final candidate list names Makinde for the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and Tinubu for the All Progressives Congress (APC), and lists Musa Lawal Daura as Makinde’s running mate. INEC’s calendar sets the presidential and National Assembly election for Jan. 16, 2027.
