2027 Polls: Makinde Picks Running Mate For Presidential Election

News Update

Ibrahim Adamu Bala has been selected by the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM) as the running mate to its presidential candidate, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, for the 2027 presidential election.

Details of Bala, 51, who is from Bauchi State had been posted on the portal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), making the party a South-North presidential ticket.

An anonymous senior APM official told Journalists that Makinde had completed the submission of his nomination with Bala.

“You cannot submit your presidential nomination without a running mate. The nomination has been filed,” the source said, adding however, that the nomination has no link to Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State.

The AP official said Adamu Bala is a running mate is from Bauchi State, while Governor Mohammed is aspiring for a Senate seat.

He said “there is no connection at all. They only have similar names. The running mate is Ibrahim Adamu Bala, not Bala Mohammed. I laughed when I saw the report because I knew people would confuse the two.”

Makinde, who is serving his second and final term as governor of Oyo State, announced his intention to run for the presidency on May 14 at a joint rally organised by his faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the APM at Mapo Hall in Ibadan.

The declaration followed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the PDP faction and the APM at the PDP South-West Zonal Secretariat in Ibadan.

Makinde said the alliance would field candidates for all elective offices, from the presidency to the state Houses of Assembly, and appealed to opposition parties to unite ahead of the 2027 general election.

On May 30, he formally accepted the APM presidential ticket in Ibadan, where he pledged to tackle insecurity, unemployment, hunger and the rising cost of living if elected.

He also promised to decentralise Nigeria’s security architecture and grant states greater powers to address security challenges.