The frontline presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has rejected calls to return to the controversial fuel subsidy regime. Instead, he is proposing a domestic crude pricing framework to slash petrol costs across the country.

Speaking on Monday at the commissioning of the APM Presidential Campaign Office in Abuja, Makinde outlined a distinct third path ahead of the 2027 general elections. He directly challenged both the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration and the subsidy-restoration promise of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.

Makinde clarified that his "Reset Nigeria" agenda does not aim to revive the opaque, pre-May 2023 subsidy structure. Rather, he argued that crude oil allocated to local refineries should reflect Nigeria`s status as a top oil producer.

"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," Makinde argued. "So why should crude oil supplied to Nigerian refineries be priced as though Nigeria does not produce crude oil?"

He insisted that relief for citizens must be engineered at the point of crude supply, rather than via "opaque interventions" at the filling station pump after inefficiencies and distribution costs have piled up.

Positioning himself as a reformist, the APM candidate promised total transparency across the petroleum value chain if elected. He challenged the status quo, stating that the current system lacks clarity.

"It means that we stop accepting systems that nobody can explain. It means that government must show its workings," Makinde said. He promised that a Reset Nigeria administration would lay bare the costs of production, domestic allocation, refining, and retail margins so citizens know exactly what they are paying for.

Addressing critics who have written off his third-party candidacy against the major political heavyweights, Makinde drew parallels to his political journey in Oyo State. He recalled how entrenched political forces doubted his gubernatorial ambitions, only for the electorate to prove them wrong.

He noted that dismissing his campaign means dismissing the shared struggles of everyday traders, farmers, youths, and small-business owners who are bearing the brunt of erratic fuel pricing.

"They may discount one candidate. But they cannot discount millions of Nigerians united behind a better future," Makinde declared, urging Nigerians to join the conversation and become "Resetters" ahead of the 2027 polls.