2027: I’m offering Nigerians alternative to Tinubu — Makinde

Oyo State Governor and Allied Peoples Movement (APM) presidential candidate, Seyi Makinde, has rejected the notion that Yoruba voters should automatically support President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 election, insisting that Nigerians deserve an alternative from their region.

Makinde said ethnic and regional considerations should not prevent voters from choosing between two Yoruba presidential candidates, arguing that the country needed leadership capable of addressing its economic and security challenges.

The governor stated this during an interview with Arise Television on Friday, where he explained why he was challenging Tinubu despite their shared South-West identity.
According to him, Nigeria is at a crossroads and voters should have options irrespective of the ethnic background of the candidates.

“I think where we are right now is Nigeria is at a crossroads. If the solution will come from a Yoruba President, they must have choices. I’m also a Yoruba person,” he said.

Makinde also dismissed suggestions that he was seeking a subordinate position in another presidential candidate's campaign, stressing that he was contesting to lead the country.

He criticised the Tinubu administration over its handling of the economy, insecurity and human capital development, insisting that the challenges confronting Nigerians were not issues that should be viewed through an ethnic lens.

“I’m not running as a deputy to somebody, or as a vice to somebody,” he said.

He added that the inability of the current administration to decisively address economic difficulties, insecurity and the development of skills and knowledge among Nigerians was not a Yoruba agenda.

The governor said he wanted the opportunity to lead from the centre and introduce changes to the country's governance and development priorities.

“I, as a Yoruba man, am putting on the table an alternative for the people of Nigeria and the Yoruba people,” he said.
“Let me be the Yoruba President,” he added.

Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, is also from the South-West and hails from Lagos State.

His re-election bid has intensified political discussions in the region over whether Yoruba voters should support his second-term ambition or consider other candidates from the same geopolitical zone.

Makinde is among the major contenders in the January 16, 2027 presidential election, alongside Tinubu, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress, former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress and Peoples Democratic Party candidate Sandy Ojang Onor.

The election is also expected to revive debates over zoning and the informal rotation of presidential power between the North and South.
Tinubu became president in 2023 after the completion of Buhari's two terms, continuing the South's turn in the country's informal power-sharing arrangement.

However, Makinde's position is that regional identity should not restrict the choices available to Nigerians, particularly when candidates from the same ethnic group offer competing visions for the country.