The Presidential Campaign Organisation of Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has accused President Bola Tinubu of avoiding Nigerians over his alleged failure to fulfil his 2023 campaign promises, calling on him to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race.
The Director of Strategic Communications, Richard Ihediwa, said in a statement on Thursday that Tinubu’s decision not to attend campaign rallies across the country showed his reluctance to face public resentment over his administration’s performance.
Tinubu on Wednesday indicated that he might not join the All Progressives Congress campaign trail across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory ahead of the 2027 elections.
He said he intended to concentrate on governance rather than accompany the campaign team on its nationwide tour.
Reacting, Makinde’s campaign organisation said Tinubu should be willing to defend his record before the electorate if he believed he had performed well.
The statement read, “The decision not only constitutes a serious affront to the Nigerian electorate, but also makes a caricature of democratic ethos.
“Besides, Mr President’s decision and his confabulatory statement further confirm fears by Nigerians that he is not fit to face the rigours of governing a nation like Nigeria.
“The decision not to campaign around the country also reinforces public apprehension that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is not ready for a free, fair and credible election but plotting to circumvent and compromise the process against the Will of the people.
“A President who believes he has performed well should be confident to defend his record before the people. However, having failed in all of his promises and having no meaningful achievements to boast of, President Tinubu is now fishing for excuses not to face the people.
“If governance was truly his priority, as he claimed, President or ‘Governor’ Tinubu would not have been globe-trotting and staying away from the theatre of governance. In fact, he should be eager to use the opportunity of the campaign to face Nigerians and take responsibility for his failures.”
The council accused Tinubu of failing to improve electricity supply, alleging that power supply had worsened and tariffs had risen under his administration.
It added, “The reckless removal of petrol subsidy, poorly executed floatation of the Naira and other policies without adequate protection for vulnerable citizens have plunged millions of households into punishing hardship.
“Hunger has intensified, purchasing power has eroded, and poverty has become an unbearable reality for countless Nigerians.
“The administration’s economic prescriptions have imposed enormous sacrifices on citizens without delivering the relief and prosperity they were promised.
“President Tinubu also promised to ensure more effective security, but sadly, under his ineffective watch, terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, armed robbers and other criminal elements are having a field day, ravaging our country, killing thousands of compatriots and holding many more hostage.
“The monumental failures in security, economic management and governance explain why President Tinubu is reluctant to take his re-election campaign directly to Nigerians.”
Makinde Campaign insisted that Tinubu should not seek re-election without campaigning across the country and accounting to Nigerians for the prevailing economic and security conditions.
“If President Tinubu is so fatigued that he cannot go round the country to canvass for votes, then he should withdraw from the race, as Nigerians are not ready to continue with an absentee and lethargic president that lacks the capacity and capability to lead from the front.
“Nigerians at this moment earnestly desire a youthful, energetic and active President with stamina for leadership.
“This is why they are clamouring for the Presidential Candidate of the Allied People’s Movement (APM), Seyi Makinde, whose Reset Nigeria Agenda offers solutions for the security, economic and social challenges confronting our nation.
“Unlike President Tinubu, Makinde is competent, resourceful and has been going round the country, meeting with the people, vigorously campaigning and soliciting for votes with his sterling record of achievements and vision for the nation under the Reset Nigeria Agenda.”
The Allied People’s Movement presidential candidate, Makinde, also criticised the Federal Government’s economic reforms, arguing that rising poverty showed the need to assess leadership by its impact on citizens rather than by improvements in economic indicators.
He said one presidential term was enough for Nigerians to determine a leader’s priorities and decide whether the government deserved another mandate.
In a newsletter released on Thursday, in which he compared his administration’s approach to governance in Oyo State with the Federal Government’s handling of the economy under Tinubu, Makinde acknowledged that the removal of petrol subsidy and the adoption of a more flexible foreign exchange regime were backed by economic arguments but insisted that the consequences for ordinary Nigerians must also be considered.
“Policies tell you what a government wants to change. The order in which it chooses to make those changes tells you how that government thinks,” Makinde said.
He added, “There are never enough resources for government to meet every need at once. So, leadership is about what you choose to do first, what you are prepared to postpone, and who bears the cost of those choices.”
The governor said his administration, which took office in 2019, prioritised the payment of workers’ salaries, pensions and inherited gratuity arrears while pursuing infrastructure development.
According to him, the state’s development roadmap focused on the economy, education, healthcare and security, with the government seeking to ensure that workers and pensioners received their entitlements despite competing demands on public finances.
“We could have said government needed the money for infrastructure and asked workers and pensioners to wait.
“Instead of choosing between paying people and building infrastructure, we chose to do both. We paid salaries consistently. We regularised pension payments. We began clearing inherited gratuity arrears,” he said.
Makinde said personnel costs alone accounted for about 70 per cent of Oyo State’s federal receipts during the four years, adding that his administration explored alternative financing arrangements to fund infrastructure projects.
He cited the Alternative Project Funding Approach, under which contractors financed selected projects upfront while the state government repaid the costs over an agreed period.
“Going back to our test of leadership, you can see clearly what we chose to do first – meet our obligations. And we accepted the fiscal cost of that choice,” he said.
Turning to the Federal Government’s economic policies, Makinde argued that reforms should not be assessed solely by their impact on macroeconomic indicators but also by their effects on citizens’ livelihoods.
“Reform is not only about fixing the numbers. It is also about how people survive the transition,” he said.
The governor claimed that poverty had risen from about 56 per cent in 2023 to around 62 per cent in 2026, representing approximately 23 million additional Nigerians living in poverty.
He said the Federal Government had highlighted assessments by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund indicating improvements in macroeconomic stability but argued that the benefits had not translated sufficiently into improved living standards.
“These 23 million are not just numbers. They are our parents, neighbours, friends and children. Macroeconomic stability has not translated at the same pace into jobs, lower poverty and improved living standards for the majority of Nigerians,” he said.
“And if, after four years, a leader has not been able to make those choices work for the people, Nigerians have every right to say: let us try someone else,” he said.