2027: APC govt has built Nigeria for the benefit of few – Makinde

By Luminous Jannamike

ABUJA — Presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, Seyi Makinde, has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of building a country that works only for those in power, challenging the ruling government to explain what it has achieved for Nigerians in three years.

Makinde said the administration had failed to deliver a country that worked for ordinary Nigerians, alleging that its newly promoted reform agenda merely repackaged ideas already advanced by the APM. He urged voters to reject what he described as a government serving the interests of a privileged few.

Speaking on Monday at the party’s presidential campaign rally in Jos, Plateau State, the former Oyo State governor accused the ruling government of appropriating his party’s ideas.

“When we unveiled our RESET Agenda, I said in Abuja that they would soon start stealing our ideas. Now they have started. They say theirs is ‘Reform to Prosperity’. They now say they want a Nigeria that will work for everybody. What have they been doing over the past three years?

“They have built a Nigeria that works only for them. Send the oppressors packing. Send them back to Lagos, and let us bring in the team that will reset Nigeria,” he said.

Makinde identified insecurity as a major obstacle to Plateau’s economic potential, promising that an APM government would prioritise security, tourism and job creation.

Reflecting on his experience of Jos’s pleasant evening weather, he said the state could become a major tourism destination if its security challenges were addressed.

“Security is a major pillar of the RESET Agenda. Once we start attracting tourists, our economy on the Plateau will expand, and we will create jobs for our teeming youths,” he said.

Urging supporters to take the party’s message to the grassroots, Makinde stressed that electoral victories were determined at polling-unit level.

“Go back to your various units and spread the RESET message. Elections are won at the unit level. Go back to your units with the RESET message. If Nigeria is not working for you, then let us reset it. When we reset Nigeria, we will have a country that works for everybody,” he said.

Earlier, the party’s vice-presidential candidate, Lawal Daura, appealed to Plateau residents to support the APM, lamenting that insecurity had eroded the state’s reputation as a peaceful tourism destination.

Recalling his frequent visits to the state in the past, Daura said the party was determined to restore its lost appeal.

“Plateau has been a state of peace and tranquillity, a home of tourism where anything good used to be found. Personally, years back, I used to visit the Plateau at least three times a year. Unfortunately, some people have tried to spoil the Plateau. But we are here with our resolute agenda to set things right for the Plateau and for Nigeria,” he said.

Also speaking, APM National Chairman, Yusuf Dantalle, faulted the Federal Government’s handling of fuel subsidy removal, questioning whether the policy had delivered the promised improvement in Nigerians’ living conditions.

He said rising living costs, food shortages and insecurity had worsened the hardship facing households and farmers.

“Subsidy has been withdrawn, according to the Federal Government, for one purpose: to give Nigerians a better life. But are we better off after that? We are paying through our noses. Food is not available. We cannot go to our farms. We cannot do anything,” Dantalle said.

Describing the APM as a rescue platform, the national chairman urged Nigerians to spread its message, insisting that the party was committed to equitable governance and the welfare of citizens.

“We are here on a rescue mission, all of us. When you go back home, talk to somebody, who will talk to another person, and spread the message that there is a new party composed of people who fear God and have made a covenant with the people to ensure that what belongs to them is equitably returned to them. And that is the APM,” he said.