After a six-day Christmas and New Year break, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, last week resumed their presidential campaign activities with three rallies within the week in Kano, Edo and Ondo State, and with a town hall engagement with youths.
Most importantly, the Presidential Campaign Council of the party announced a review of the campaign timetable, showing that President Muhammadu Buhari will be joining the campaign train. The decision of Mr Buhari to stay away from the campaign had generated concerns within the party, as many viewed it as a sign of cracks in the ruling party.
The disquietness prompted the presidency to issue a press statement in December to dismiss speculations that president Buhari was not enthusiastic about Mr Tinubu’s presidency.
SWITCH NIGERIA had also reported that Buhari and Tinubu held a closed-door meeting at the villa amidst the report that President Buhari was intentionally staying away from the campaign despite his promise of leading it from the front.
Opposition parties’ operatives have interpreted Mr. Buhari’s “body language” to show all was not be well with the campaign.
However, Festus Keyamo, one of the spokespersons of the APC PCC, during an interview on Arise TV, said Mr Buhari’s seeming detachment was because he is not seeking to install a puppet as former President Olusegun Obasanjo did in 2007 when he campaigned across the country to ensure the Umar Yar’Adua won the 2007 election.
“President Buhari is not like Obasanjo, who wanted to instal a puppet. You saw what he (Obasanjo) did in 2007, that was not salutary, to all patriots — that was when the do-or-die mantra came up. If you remember sir, it was then that he said this election is do-or-die for him. A leader should not behave like that. President Buhari is shoulders above Obasanjo in this respect. He was there at our flag-off in Jos,” Mr Keyamo said.
According to the new timetable, Mr Buhari will attend rallies in 10 states, namely; Adamawa, Cross River, Ogun, Kwara, Yobe, Nasarawa, Katsina, Imo and Lagos.
The choice of Adamawa as the first campaign stop is striking, considering that the PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar, is from that state. However, President Buhari is equally popular in Adamawa, if the result of the last presidential election is used as a yardstick.
APC in Adamawa State appears to have put its house in order and is ready to rally around its governorship candidate, Aisha Binani. The internal wrangling in the post-primary election between Ms Binani and a close associate of Mr Tinubu, Nuhu Ribadu, was on for a while.
Ms Binani, perhaps to force the hands of Messrs Tinubu and Ribadu, withdrew from the Presidential Campaign Council while the political tussle was ongoing.
Eventually, Mr Ribadu opted not to appeal the judgement of a lower court on the dispute, thus, confirming Ms Binani as the governorship candidate of the party.
