By Lanre Oloyede
Seven days after lifting of lid on political campaigns for 2023 elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, indications emerged Wednesday that the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, is not ready yet to kick off the exercise.
Nigerian Pilot gathered this might not be unconnected with the seeming disagreement between the Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led National Working Committee, NWC, the Progressive Governors Forum and the Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, over the composition of membership of the campaign council.
This is even as other opposition parties have kicked off their campaign exercises at various levels across the country.
While unveiling the schedule for the kickoff of its campaign on Tuesday, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) taunted APC and other parties, saying they were not ready for elections.
Recall that a letter allegedly written by Adamu to Tinubu conveying the displeasure and disapproval of the NWC over the 422-man campaign council list earlier released by the PCC secretary James Faleke got leaked to the press but was quickly debunked by the party’s spokesperson, Felix Morka.
Senator Adamu had accused APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, of breeching agreements and running a one-man show over the management of the presidential campaign council, while stressing that Tinubu had singlehandedly tampered with the composition of the council members as earlier agreed upon by the NWC and with the approval of the presidency.
Similarly, governors elected on the platform of the party were reported to have also rejected the list and threatened to sabotage Tinubu’s presidential bid in their various States for disregarding their nominations to the presidential campaign council.
Following the intense bickering and acrimony that greeted the list, the Director general of the APC Presidential Campaign Council and Plateau State governor, Simon Lalong, in a statement announced the postponement of the inauguration earlier scheduled for Wednesday September 28.
But despite a crucial closed door meeting held Wednesday between six governors of APC and some members the National Working Committee (NWC) led by the party’s national chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, and the Presidential Campaign Council, PCC at the party’s national secretariat, aimed at resolving issues surrounding the composition of the Presidential Campaign Council, it appeared no resolution or compromise was reached.
Recall that the Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council and Plateau State governor, Simon Lalong had met with other campaign members on Tuesday in Abuja also as part of move to resolve the issue as it appeared that governors, NWC and other stakeholders of the party were still working at cross-purposes, hence the delay for a new list and inauguration of the team.
Addressing journalists at the end of the meeting, National Chairman, Adamu, insisted that the party will be the one to determine when the campaign will commence.
Adamu said: “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.
“Don’t be faster than the.. whatever you want to have so much in a hurry you may 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.”
Also speaking, the chairman of Progressive Governors Forum, PGF, Atiku Bagudu, alluded that though the list released by the PCC was done in error, efforts are on the way sort out the mistake.
“We are happy that we are discussing even though there were list 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,” Bagudu alluded.
Those who attended the meeting included Kano State governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa), Simon Lalong (Plateau), Sani Bello (Niger) and Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa) and a former national chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole.
