APM South-South chairmen reject Makinde's campaign, boycott Uyo town hall
- Six APM chairmen in the South-South have passed a vote of no confidence in presidential candidate Seyi Makinde.
- They accuse him of running his campaign without the party's elected structures and picking coordinators from outside the APM.
- The chairmen skipped his Uyo town hall on Tuesday but backed the national leadership under Alhaji Yusuf Mamman Dantalle.
Six chairmen of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) in the South-South have turned against the party's presidential candidate, Seyi Makinde, saying they have no confidence in how he is running his 2027 campaign.
The chairmen, who also spoke for the zone's governorship, National Assembly and state House of Assembly candidates, skipped Makinde's South-South town hall in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Tuesday. They announced their position in a joint statement on Wednesday.
Their main complaint is that the Oyo State governor is building his campaign around people outside the party. They said he picked coordinators for all 36 states who are not card-carrying APM members, and did not consult the party's ward, local government, state and zonal leaders.
In the statement, the chairmen said Makinde "came to the party with a promise of lies" and questioned whether a man they say has not been straight with party members can be straight with Nigerians. They also called him a "political deadwood", alleging he joined the APM from a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that no longer carries weight.
What the chairmen want
The chairmen said their action is meant to protect internal democracy and discipline in the APM, not to break the party. They insisted that being the presidential candidate does not put Makinde above the party's constitution.
They also drew a line between Makinde and the party's national leadership. The statement passed a vote of confidence in the National Working Committee (NWC) led by National Chairman Alhaji Yusuf Mamman Dantalle, who is also chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), and in National Leader and Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed.
The chairmen said they will meet again at a time they choose to decide where the zone stands on the presidential race. They warned that the Niger Delta cannot be pushed around by what they called political jobbers.
The two reports differ on how the signatories' names are spelled. Daily Post lists Dagodog Whyte (Rivers), Mrs Peace Osarama (Bayelsa), Utuku Abangaye Edet (Akwa Ibom), Ugoigwe Onyeka Ogechukwu (Edo), Prince Henry Ese (Delta) and Ntami Nkanu Esage (Cross River). Leadership gives them as Dagogo Whyte, Peace Oruama, Uduak Edet, Ugiagbe Ogieriakhi, Henry Eze and Ntami Nkanu Esege.
Why it matters
APM is one of the smaller parties on the 2027 ballot, and a public fight between a candidate and his own state chairmen is a poor start. For voters in the South-South, it raises early questions about how organised the party will be in a zone that decides a large share of national votes.
It also puts pressure on Dantalle's NWC to step in. The chairmen have backed him, so how he handles the dispute will show whether the party can settle its differences before campaigns proper begin.
