Members of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), and the All Progressives Congress National Working Committee (NWC) all agreed yesterday to work toward Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Senator Kashim Shettima’s election as the party’s standard bearer and vice presidential candidate.
The three organs also decided to establish a dispute resolution process for resolving disputes that might have an impact on the presidential campaign and the chances of the ruling party winning the election.
The national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, called for the APC leaders’ strategy meeting, which took place at the party secretariat in Abuja.
It was discovered that the important meeting was intended to launch the campaigns.
The standard bearer, according to a source, is also anticipated to return to the nation today from London, where he spoke with businesspeople, including accomplished investor Mr. Yemi Idowu.
The gathering came after the APC Women’s rally in Lagos and the party supporters’ “Walk for Asiwaju” in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State.
Also yesterday, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, a Catholic priest and former president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), stated that the ruling party’s same-faith ticket was, in his opinion, the best choice.
Speaking to reporters following the almost five-hour meeting, Adamu said the campaign council, governors, and leaders had decided to move forward in peace.
He said: “We are very comfortable. We have established machinery for resolving everything. We are together with the governor’s forum and NWC. I believe the meeting we had is more than useful to us. For us, nothing short of victory, and that is the spirit of this meeting.”
The party’s chairman, who would not say when the planned nationwide campaign would start, claimed that the APC couldn’t move any quicker than its shadow.
Adamu emphasized that without the cooperation of APC governors, real progress cannot be done in the 2023 elections and that the party recognized the significance of all of its institutions.
He said: “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 of Nigeria’s democratic dispensation.
“Being the chief executive officers of their various states, the onus lies in the hands of God and their hands because they are the commanders of the party fortunes in their various states.
“We can not 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.”
Atiku Bagudu, the PGF chairman and governor of Kebbi State, claimed that the governors meet in the secretariat to plan.
Bagudu stated that the 422 member campaign list’s publishing was disappointing but that the campaign council’s makeup would be resolved.
He said: “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, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the vice presidential candidate, 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 was a list. It was 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.”
Other PGF members at the meeting were Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Abdulahi Ganduje (Kano), Sani Bello (Niger), Bello Matawalle (Zamfara), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Simon Lalong (Plateau) and the deputy governor of Borno State, Umar Kadafur.
PCC members at the meeting were former APC National Chairman and Deputy Director-General of PCC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and former Nigeria Port Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman, Deputy Director-General (admin).
