Being the Remarks by HE Seyi Makinde, FNSE, Presidential Candidate of the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM) at the Commissioning of the APM Campaign Office, Abuja on Monday, 7 September 2026.
Today, we are not just opening a campaign office.
We are opening another door for Nigerians to join the conversation about the future of our country.
A conversation about what must change.
A conversation about how we can make Nigeria work for every Nigerian.
That is what Reset Nigeria is about.
In the past few days, I have spoken about the petrol pricing framework. Some people have asked whether I am suggesting that we bring back the old fuel subsidy.
That is not my position.
Let me explain my position very simply with this example.
If a community grows food, the people of that community should not have to buy that food as though it travelled halfway around the world before reaching them.
So why should crude oil supplied to Nigerian refineries be priced as though Nigeria does not produce crude oil?
Nigeria’s oil must provide a real and measurable benefit to Nigerians.
That benefit should be built into the system from the beginning, through the price at which crude oil is supplied for domestic refining—not through an opaque intervention at the petrol pump after all the costs, inefficiencies and distortions have been added.
And Nigerians must be able to see how the final price is reached.
We need complete transparency across the petroleum value chain—from production and domestic crude allocation to refining, transportation, distribution, taxes and retail margins.
Nigerians should know what they are paying for, who receives what and where inefficiencies are increasing the final price.
That is what it means to Reset Nigeria.
It means that we stop accepting systems that nobody can explain.
It means that government must show its workings.
It means that Nigerians must know how decisions are made, how public resources are used and who benefits from them.
It means that when Nigeria’s wealth grows, the lives of Nigerians must also improve.
I am aware that some people have already decided that this campaign does not count.
I have been here before.
When I first asked the people of Oyo State to entrust me with the responsibility of serving them, many people said I did not stand a chance. They looked at the established political forces, looked at me, and concluded that I could not win.
But the people of Oyo State had other ideas.
So, when they say today that this campaign does not count, I do not take it personally. What they are really saying is that the hopes of millions of Nigerians do not count. They are saying that the market woman struggling with rising prices does not count. That the young person searching for an opportunity does not count. That the farmer, the worker, the small-business owner and every Nigerian who believes this country can be better do not count.
But we count.
Our voices count.
Our experiences count.
Our ideas count.
And, together, our votes will count.
That is why Reset Nigeria cannot be a conversation among politicians alone.
It must become a conversation in our homes, markets, schools, offices, farms, factories and communities.
We want to hear from the trader who struggles whenever transport costs rise.
We want to hear from the farmer who cannot afford to move produce to the market.
We want to hear from the business owner whose costs rise every time the price of fuel changes.
We want to hear from the young Nigerian who is working hard but can no longer see a clear path to a better life.
This office belongs to that conversation.
Its doors are open to Nigerians who believe that our country can work better than it does today.
So, I invite you: join the Reset Nigeria conversation.
Ask questions.
Challenge our ideas.
Share your own ideas.
Organise within your communities.
They may discount one candidate. But they cannot discount millions of Nigerians united behind a better future.
Let us build a country in which government is transparent, leadership is accountable and Nigeria’s resources work for the Nigerian people.
This is our country.
These are our resources.
We count.
And together, we will Reset Nigeria.
Thank you and God bless you.
Seyi Makinde
7 September 2026