The Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organization (MDPCO) has dismissed President Bola Tinubu’s planned 2027 campaign flag-off in Kaduna State, declaring that widespread insecurity, economic hardship, and the alleged marginalisation of Northern Nigeria will cost the incumbent re-election.
The opposition campaign council issued the sharp rebuke in a statement released on Friday, October 23, 2026, at 8:29 PM in Abuja. Speaking on behalf of the organization, MDPCO Director of Strategic Communications, Richard Ihediwa, challenged President Tinubu to account for his administration’s performance across the region before soliciting support for a second term in office.
The campaign council characterized the scheduled launch in Kaduna, a state traditionally viewed as the political nerve center of the North, as a futile attempt to regain lost political goodwill.
Ihediwa questioned what tangible benefits the region had reaped under the current administration, describing its governance record as one marked by severe security challenges, economic pressure, and compromised public trust.
Delivering a scathing critique of the administration’s performance, the campaign organization highlighted the severe human cost of ongoing regional instability, noting that over 13,000 individuals have lost their lives to violence across Northern Nigeria since May 2023, while an estimated 3.7 million citizens remain internally displaced.
MDPCO further condemned what it termed misplaced security priorities, citing reports that law enforcement personnel were deployed to guard APC campaign billboards in Kaduna while vulnerable rural communities continued to face threats from banditry and mass abductions.
Beyond security concerns, the organization accused the administration of systematically sidelining Northern leadership in key federal appointments, alleging that the region is being treated purely as an electoral vote bank during campaign cycles.
The statement also emphasized the compounding impact of rising inflation, recent electricity tariff hikes, and soaring living costs, arguing that voters across Kaduna and the broader nation require immediate economic relief and accountability rather than renewed political pledges.
The Makinde-Daura ticket, which features Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde as its presidential candidate under the platform of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), has increasingly framed itself as a formidable contender ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Concluding the statement, the campaign organisation maintained that Nigerians across all geopolitical zones will judge the incumbent administration strictly on its record at the polls.
