Oyo State Governor and presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Seyi Makinde, has selected former Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Musa Daura, as his running mate for the 2027 presidential election.
The development marks a significant adjustment to the APM’s presidential ticket as the party positions itself for the 2027 general election. Makinde is expected to contest the presidential election under the APM platform, with Daura now joining the ticket as the vice-presidential candidate.
Daura, a former senior intelligence officer, served as Director-General of the DSS from 2015 to 2018. His extensive experience within Nigeria’s intelligence and security establishment is expected to form an important part of the political narrative surrounding the APM ticket.
The choice of Daura also brings a strong Northern connection to Makinde’s presidential campaign. Daura is from Katsina State in the North-West, while Makinde comes from Oyo State in the South-West. The combination therefore gives the ticket a South-West–North-West geographical spread as the party seeks support across different regions of the country.
Makinde’s emergence as the APM presidential candidate has already positioned the party as one of the political platforms seeking to offer Nigerians an alternative ahead of the 2027 election. His decision to select a former DSS director-general further introduces a security and intelligence dimension to the campaign.
Daura’s professional background could also become central to discussions around national security, counterterrorism, intelligence gathering, kidnapping, banditry and other security challenges confronting Nigeria. His experience at the highest level of the country’s intelligence architecture gives him substantial familiarity with national security operations and the challenges associated with protecting lives and property.
The selection comes at a time when security remains one of the major issues expected to shape the 2027 presidential contest. Political parties and candidates are likely to face intense scrutiny over their plans to address insecurity, strengthen intelligence coordination, protect communities and restore public confidence in the nation’s security institutions.
For the APM, the decision is therefore more than a routine selection of a running mate. It potentially gives the party an opportunity to make security expertise one of the defining elements of its presidential campaign.
The Makinde–Daura ticket will also face the challenge of building a strong national political structure capable of competing effectively across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones. Beyond the selection of candidates, the party will need to mobilise supporters, strengthen its grassroots structures and communicate a clear policy agenda to voters.
Daura’s entry into the presidential ticket also represents a major transition from his previous career in national security into partisan politics. His experience within the DSS could attract both political interest and public debate as Nigerians assess the suitability of former security officials for elected political positions.
As preparations for the 2027 presidential election intensify, attention will now turn to how the APM develops its campaign strategy, the policies it presents to Nigerians and the political alliances it builds ahead of the election.
The Makinde–Daura ticket is expected to make national security, economic development, governance, institutional reform and national unity important components of the broader political conversation leading to the 2027 presidential election.
Lawal Musa Daura previously served as Director-General of the DSS between July 2015 and August 2018. His appointment to the APM presidential ticket places a former head of Nigeria’s intelligence service directly at the centre of the party’s campaign for national political power.