Makinde jumps off Akure stage, tells voters to back any rival who can match him
- Oyo Governor Seyi Makinde jumped off a stage in Akure to show his energy for the 2027 race.
- He said age should not decide the election but stamina should, and dared rivals to do the same.
- Makinde, the APM presidential candidate, also criticised President Tinubu's government and defended a South-West contest.
Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde jumped off a stage in Akure on Thursday and told supporters to vote for any rival presidential candidate who can do the same, as he pushed physical energy as a test for the 2027 election.
Makinde, who is the presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), spoke at the party's South-West presidential campaign town hall meeting held at the Ondo State International Conference Centre, known as The Dome.
He said he would not make age the issue in the campaign, but energy and the ability to handle the demands of the office.
"If they can do that, vote for them,"
he told the crowd, according to the reports, after jumping down and drawing cheers.
Why it matters to voters
The event was also where the APM set out its policy plan for 2027, which Makinde described as a four-point agenda under the party's "RESET Nigeria" platform, covering the economy, education, security and socio-political development.
Makinde used the gathering to attack President Bola Tinubu's administration, saying it had not delivered on its promises. He pointed to electricity supply and swings in petroleum prices as examples of problems facing households and businesses, and argued that 2027 gives Nigerians a chance to reject the government.
He also defended running for president while Tinubu, also from the South-West, seeks re-election. Makinde said the region having a candidate in office should not stop others from the same zone from contesting, and cited 1999, when Olusegun Obasanjo and Olu Falae, both from the South-West, ran against each other.
He questioned what he called wasteful spending, criticising Jimoh Ibrahim, Nigeria's permanent representative to the United Nations, over a trip from New York to Abuja to present the UN budget to Tinubu. Makinde asked which Nigerian budget the government was running.
Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, who attended, described the APM as a major opposition movement.
The reports did not say what other candidates or the presidency said in response.
