The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, last Thursday arrived in Abuja after a 12-day rest in London. Tinubu, who left the country on Saturday, September 24, held several consultative meetings with various personalities, among whom were billionaire businessman Yemi Idowu, who is interested in investing in Nollywood and Toyin Subair, the owner of defunct Hi tv.
The former two-time Governor of Lagos state left the country after the secretary of the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Hon. James Faleke, released a 422-member list of the council.
The PCC list, however, received knocks from party stakeholders, including the National Working Committee (NWC) and governors who claimed they were not carried along.
Following the complaints from the leadership of the party, governors, and stakeholders, the Director General of the PCC and governor of Plateau state, Hon Simon Lalong, in a statement suspended all the campaign activities indefinitely.
“However, due to the expansion of the list to accommodate more stakeholders and interests within the APC family, we have decided to adjust the timetable of these activities in order to ensure everyone is on board before activities officially commence. Consequently, the activities earlier announced for the 28th of September will no longer hold,” Lalong had said.
This did little or nothing to assuage the anger of the party stakeholders after a leaked letter purportedly written by the National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdulahi Adamu to Tinubu, where he demanded that the 422-member campaign list be withdrawn.
But less than 24 hours later, the party made a quick U-turn, when Adamu via a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Felix Morka, denied authoring the letter.
Interestingly, the meeting between the APC governors and the National leadership of the party led by Adamu last week failed to reach a compromise on the commencement date for the 2023 elections campaign.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on September 28, 2022, lifted a ban on electioneering activities.
The five-hour-long meeting which was part of the efforts to get everybody on board; address the grievances of party stakeholders and also strategize on the campaign activities and timetable of the ruling party, could not agree on a flag-off date for Campaigns.
Addressing newsmen after the closed-door meeting, Adamu assured that the party leadership has established machinery to resolve whatever issues they have.
According to him: “We are very very comfortable, we have established machinery for resolving anything. We are together with the governors forum and NWC. I believe this meeting we had is more than useful to us. For us nothing short of victory and that is the spirit of this meeting.”
Adamu made it clear that the ruling party would determine when the campaign would start. He said they cannot run faster than their shadow.
“Don’t be faster than the…whatever you want to have so much in a hurry you may not be…The fact of the matter is, we as a party, as APC, we will determine when we will do what as long as it is within the framework of INEC’s guidelines,” he said.
Earlier before the meeting went into closed door, the chairman noted that the party cannot make meaningful progress in the 2023 elections without the support of APC governors
His words: “Essentially we want to interact with our governors who are the custodians of the fate of APC in their various states that they are privileged by God to lead at this point in time of Nigeria’s democratic dispensation. Being the Chief Executive Officers of their various states; the onus of our great party lies in the hands of God and in their hands because they are the commanders of the party fortunes in their various states.
“We cannot make meaningful progress in the affairs of these states, particularly in an election year that is approaching. We can not plan without the buy-in of our governors so that we can stand together, believing that we share the same aspirations. We will plan together to see how best we can deliver the interest of the party and ensure that victory is ours in the 2023 general election that is by the corner.”
To further show that the governors were indeed unhappy, the Chairman of Progressive Governors’ Forum and the Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, described the release of the 422-member campaign list as unfortunate but assured that it would be sorted out.
Bagudu added: “Governors are very proud of our party, we are very proud of our party leader, President Muhamadu Buhari, we are very proud of the conventions that produced both our national chairman and our presidential candidate in the person of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the vice presidential candidate in the person of Kashim Shettima, we are very proud of the actions of the national chairman and the NWC, we are very proud of the actions of the presidential campaign council.
“We are happy that we are discussing even though there were lists that were unfortunate that the campaign (council list) which the party would have announced…a mistake, but I am happy that the party is solidly behind our candidate and our party and whatever lists that have come out erroneously, we believe it will be sorted out.”
While the controversy and disaffection created by the list among party faithful rages, the news about Tinubu’s reported ill health and rumoured death filtered in, especially following his inability to attend the Peace Signing Accord which was signed recently in Abuja by all the presidential candidates.
The APC vice presidential candidate and the former Governor of Borno state, Senator Kashim Shettima represented Tinubu at the event.
But, in order to put a stop to the rumor about his failing health, Tinubu posted a short video of himself riding a bike, as evidence of a proof of life.
The presidential hopeful also tweeted through his verified Twitter handle and declared that he was hale and hearty and ready to serve Nigeria from day one.
“Many have said I have died; others claimed I have withdrawn from the presidential race. Well…nope. This is the reality: I am strong, I am healthy and I am ready to serve Nigeria from day one,” he tweeted.
As the PCC tries to fine-tune the campaign list, the APC will today kick off its campaigns with the inauguration of the APC Women Presidential Campaign Team.
The First Lady, Aisha Buhari, was last week announced as the grand patron of the women’s wing of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Team. The wife of the Presidential Candidate, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, a three-term senator representing Lagos Central, and the wife of the vice presidential candidate, Nana Shettima, will serve as chairman and co-Chairman respectively.
The organising committee of the Tinubu/Shettima Women Presidential Campaign Team, said the formal inauguration of members of its various committees will hold at the Conference Hall of the State House, Abuja.
Sources within the party said the women’s campaign team will enjoy a degree of autonomy and organise its own programmes, and that there would be activities at the national, zonal and state levels.
“Efforts are also reportedly ongoing to rally the thousands of women-focused support groups affiliated with the APC for a nationwide mass mobilisation project,” a party source said.
The announcement of the women’s campaign team has drawn positive reactions from across the country.
The APC’s women’s campaign team, comprising over 1,200 women drawn from across the country, further bolsters the party’s gender-sensitive credentials as the APC, is also the only major political party to have a female gubernatorial candidate in the 2023 election cycle.
It is expected that the full PCCl list, which is believed to have more than 2,000 members, would be released this week in order to get the campaign activities of the ruling party started and also get all stakeholders involved.
ThisDay
