The presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, and Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has announced former Director-General of the State Security Service, SSS, Lawal Daura, as his running mate for the 2027 presidential election.
Mr Makinde made the announcement at the elective national convention of the APM held at the Rilwanu Adamu Square, Government House, Bauchi, where Yusuf Dantalle was re-elected as the national chairman of the party.
Mr Daura replaces the former placeholder, Ibrahim Bala.
His emergence followed his resignation from the African Democratic Congress (ADC), where he reportedly lost the party’s governorship ticket for Katsina State.
Explaining the choice of Mr Daura as his running mate, Mr Makinde said the former intelligence chief was deliberately selected to help address the country’s worsening security challenges.
“As we approach 2027, therefore, I believe the task before all of us is bigger than winning an election. It is to give Nigerians a real choice about the future of their country,” Mr Makinde said.
Congratulating the newly elected national officers of the APM, the governor said the party had, within a short period, emerged as an opposition platform to reckon with.
He urged the new leadership to work with other opposition parties towards presenting a credible alternative to Nigerians in 2027, stressing that a viable opposition was indispensable to the survival of democracy.
“As I said during the Ibadan Declaration in April this year, the presence of credible opposition is what sustains democracy.
“So, our new leaders must be ready to work with other opposition parties to ensure that we give Nigerians a credible alternative in the 2027 general election,” he said.
Mr Makinde said the 2027 campaign season would inevitably be dominated by political slogans, promises and declarations by candidates, but urged Nigerians to demand more from those seeking political office.
“The 2027 election must be an election about outcomes. For too long, we have measured governance by announcements. We are presented with policy after policy, rather than evidence of whether those policies have made people’s lives better,” he said.
“When our mothers go to the market, they don’t experience economic policy as a statistic. They experience it in what their money can buy. How much rice, beans and gari they can take home,” he said.
He added that young Nigerians would judge employment policies by their ability to secure productive work and build independent lives, while farmers would assess agricultural policies based on productivity, access to markets and whether farming had improved their economic conditions.
On security, Mr Makinde said the effectiveness of government should not be measured by the number of security meetings held by officials but by whether Nigerians could live and pursue their livelihoods without fear.
“Families do not judge security by the number of meetings government has held. They judge it by whether they can travel, farm, work and sleep with their two eyes closed,” he said.
“The question before Nigeria in 2027 should not simply be: What has government done? It should be: What has changed for Nigerians?” he added.
The governor also said opposition candidates must subject themselves to scrutiny by explaining what they would do differently and the measurable improvements Nigerians should expect if elected.
Mr Makinde said his administration had applied the same principle in Oyo State by focusing not merely on projects announced by government but on their impact on the people.
He identified poverty reduction, job creation, education, healthcare and security as some of the major issues that should dominate the political conversation ahead of the 2027 election.
“We must talk about an economy that moves over 140 million Nigerians currently living in poverty towards prosperity.
“We must talk about creating productive jobs and opportunities for our young people in a country where over 60 per cent of the population is young.
“We must talk about education that prepares our children for the economy they will inherit. Healthcare that people can access. And security that protects Nigerians wherever they live,” he said.
