Makinde Will Defeat Tinubu in His 12 Battleground States, Others, Says Campaign Council

• Challenges president to travel to Kaduna, Kano, Plateau, others by road

•Insists Nigeria’s biggest problem is grinding poverty, not religion

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation (MDPCO) has declared that its presidential candidate on the platform of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, will defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 12 battleground states identified by the president, as well as in other states across the federation, in the January 2027 presidential election.

This is as Makinde declared that Nigeria’s biggest problem is grinding poverty, not religion, urging Christians to stop shunning politics and take an active role in transforming the country.

The MDPCO, in a statement by its Director of Strategic Communications, Hon. Richard Nnanna Ihediwa, asserted that Makinde would decisively defeat Tinubu and his All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council in Rivers State and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, insisting that no amount of political manoeuvring, intimidation or abuse of incumbency by the President’s henchmen can reverse the growing tide of opposition to his re-election.

The organisation said the arrogance and political overreach of President Tinubu’s inner circle had deepened public resentment and further weakened his electoral prospects.

It added that President Tinubu’s decision to personally visit and campaign in only 12 states — Oyo, Kaduna, Rivers, Plateau, Borno, Enugu, Bauchi, Sokoto, Delta, Kano, Adamawa and Lagos — further confirmed his apprehension over the mileage and foothold already achieved by Makinde with his RESET NIGERIA Agenda message in the aforementioned and other states of the federation.

“Mr President should know that his visit to these states, if he eventually does, will not in any way change the direction or the determination of the people to vote him out, given his unpardonable failures in office which have brought unprecedented hardship across the country,” the organisation said.

“President Tinubu has no meaningful achievement he can boast of in these and other states of the federation where Nigerians now refer to his government as ‘T-Pain’ following the suffering they have been subjected to by the policies of the Tinubu administration in the last three and a half years.”

The MDPCO challenged President Tinubu not to have a change of mind but to visit the states to face the people.

“We challenge President Tinubu to travel around the country by road and witness the decrepit state of federal highways, the squalor in which Nigerians live and the level of infrastructural decay across the country, while his government squanders trillions of Naira on white elephant projects and wasteful programmes.

“If President Tinubu believes he is popular as he claims, he should not stop at the rally ground or at the airport when he gets to any of the states. He should go beyond waving to a gathering of APC rented crowd and be bold enough to directly engage the people in the communities and towns to seek their votes, as the APM candidate, Makinde, has been doing since he started his campaign,” it said.

The organisation said the APM candidate had been engaging Nigerians with his clear-cut RESET NIGERIA message, focused on rebuilding systems and institutions that produce excellent outcomes rather than relying on sloganeering like President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

“Nigerians are gravitating towards the core campaign pillars and proposals in Makinde’s RESET NIGERIA Agenda, which include the establishment of an all-inclusive, four-year transitional government of national unity with four priority pillars of education, economy, security and socio-political policies.

“Unlike President Tinubu’s visionless, thoughtless and rudderless rule characterised by crass arbitrariness, Makinde’s RESET NIGERIA Agenda offers data-driven strategies that revolve around tackling poverty through massive production; a security plan that prioritises intelligence gathering, social reorientation and decisive kinetic and non-kinetic actions; an education plan that focuses on expanding access to quality functional education; and institutional reform that emphasises inclusive governance and sincere public leadership.”

The campaign added: “Our campaign is proud to acknowledge that feedback from the field indicates that Seyi Makinde’s RESET NIGERIA Agenda is resonating with Nigerians, especially the youths, who not only see light at the end of the tunnel, but a bright sunny day under a Makinde-Daura presidency.

“President Tinubu is for the umpteenth time urged not to waste the nation’s resources on his ‘Nebuchadnezzar’ Campaign Council of failed politicians who, like the president himself, cannot attract votes from Nigerians,” the campaign said.

In a development, Makinde has declared that Nigeria’s biggest problem is grinding poverty, not religion, urging Christians to stop shunning politics and take an active role in transforming the country.

He said Christians could not afford to stand aloof from politics because it was dirty or because they should not serve under leaders who did not share their faith, stressing that national transformation required their active participation.

Makinde spoke yesterday in Abuja after receiving a Christian Icon Award at the Christian Association of Nigeria’s (CAN) 50th anniversary celebration.

The governor, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, said Christians should draw lessons from biblical figures who accepted difficult assignments in pursuit of a greater purpose.

“It is typical for us to say, ‘Politics is dirty. I don’t want to be yoked with unbelievers’, and things like that. But we must look at biblical examples,” he said.

Makinde cited David, who, despite having been anointed king, served in the palace of Saul, from whom God had departed.

He said the biblical account should challenge Christians who believe they cannot serve under leaders of different religious persuasions.

“I will use this opportunity to encourage our Christian brothers and sisters across the country to rise and participate in the agenda to transform Nigeria and reset our country,” he said.

Makinde urged Christians to focus on the hardship confronting Nigerians rather than allowing religious differences to define their engagement with national affairs.

“Our problem is not primarily a religious one. Our problem in this country is poverty — grinding poverty,” he said.

“At this stage, we must focus on addressing the issues currently confronting us. Those are the challenges we need to tackle.”