Makinde proposes 50% votes to win presidency

Presidential Candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has proposed that a President of Nigeria must be voted for by a majority of people, saying that the winner must account for 50 percent of the vote cast.

He said, “I believe that anyone aspiring to become President of Nigeria should not emerge with less than 33 per cent of the votes in a system where the remaining voters may have voted against them. When someone emerges under such circumstances, they may enter government and begin compromising the political system itself. They may start asking other political actors to bring the mandates they received from their supporters to join the government.

Makinde made the disclosure at the unveiling of the Reset Nigeria Manifesto of the Makinde /Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation under the platform of the Allied Peoples Movement APM in Abuja on Wednesday.

The presidential candidate, who also promised to convene a national conference if elected president, explained that these ideas were not arrived at by him alone, “they are the outcome of extensive consultations.

While promising a country that works for every Nigerian, if elected, the candidate said “Our founding fathers understood that we had differences and rivalries in this country. That was why they organised constitutional conferences and engaged in discussions about the future of Nigeria. I believe our founding fathers were undoubtedly among the best this country had to offer at that time.

“My simple proposition is that government must make life easier for the people. Concrete promises alone are not enough. Every promise must be linked to a responsible institution, a delivery plan and measurable results that citizens can verify.”

National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Prof. Sadiq Abubakar Gombe in his speech affirmed that opposition political parties are still in talks with the plan of putting up a single presidential candidate for the 2027 election.

Gombe, who led a delegation of the SDP to the occasion in solidarity with the opposition family and the APM described Governor Seyi Makinde, the presidential candidate of the APM as a shining light of the opposition.

He recalled how the Oyo State Governor contested his governorship election under the PDP and won “despite all odds, under a Federal Government controlled by the All Progressives Congress, APC, while all the other states in the region (South West) were also controlled by the APC.”

Gombe said Makinde broke through to emerge as the governor of Oyo State, the headquarters of the South-West, adding “that is a great political achievement.”

He also commended Makinde and Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State for remaining steadfast with the opposition when other Governors joined forces with the ruling party, saying that they have truly rekindled the aspirations and light of our democracy.

“When other governors had left the room in the past, these gentlemen remained steadfast and continued to do whatever they could to sustain what we call democracy in Nigeria today.”

He also commended Governor Makinde for hosting the first initiative through which opposition political parties in Nigeria.