In what political watchers said was the most visible expression of their dissatisfaction with President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election campaign council as presently constituted, governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who are expected to act as state coordinators and council members were conspicuously absent yesterday as the President presided at the inaugural meeting of his re-election campaign council at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja. No reason has been given for their absence, but it is believed the governors were sending a message to Buhari, who at the inauguration of the council, last Monday, announced that APC chieftain and former Lagos State governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, would head his re-election campaign. The absence of the governors was further compounded by the absence of APC bigwigs from the Southeast at a meeting convened by the zone’s presidential campaign council in Enugu.
In an angry reaction, the APC rejected the insinuation that the governors’ absence was a mark of disaffection. In a terse statement, APC spokesman, Lanre Issa-Onilu, said: “The agenda for the meeting had to do with drawing the timetable and deciding on the messaging. It didn’t require everyone in the council to be present. Meanwhile, this is not the inaugural meeting. After the inauguration on Monday, there have been not less than three meetings of the council.”
In his opening address, Buhari said the agenda included approving the terms of reference of the various directorates and organogram that would determine how members relate with one another and discharge their roles. According to him, “our main objective is to serve as the forum for collective decision-making, to enhance the effectiveness of the campaign effort. There is no doubt that victory is with us; it is ours. But that doesn’t mean we should rest even for a moment. Even though we are confident of winning, I urge you to work as hard as you can, so that we can maximize the scale and extent of our victory. I urge you to rise to the challenge of the great expectations this party and Nigerians have for you and the confidence that I personally have in the ability of all of you to deliver.”
The President’s sentiments were echoed by the southeast APC presidential campaign council director, Sharon Ikeazor, who denied any rift within the APC campaign council. Ikeazor explained that governance would not stop because of politics, maintaining that the resolutions of the meeting would be conveyed to those key APC stakeholders in the southeast including Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha, who were absent at the meeting where party leaders met to fine-tune strategies for Buhari’s electoral victory in the Southeast region.
Also absent from the meeting were former Senate President Ken Nnamani, erstwhile governors Jim Nwobodo and Orji Uzor Kalu, and almost all ministers from the zone excluding Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu. The meeting was however, attended by all APC governorship, national and state assembly candidates, state chairmen and other stakeholders.
Meanwhile, the former Senate Minority Leader and erstwhile governor of Akwa Ibom state, Godswill Akpabio, has expressed confidence that APC would win the February 16 presidential election. He said the inaugural meeting in Abuja was to strategize on how to execute the project, stressing that Buhari’s achievements would be the focal point of campaign as the election is a referendum on the president’s first term performance in office.
“The achievements of Mr. President are all there for people to see and I think the entire country is quite excited, quite unlike our colleagues in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who do not seem to have anything except criticism,” Akpabio said.
Sources close to some of the APC governors who boycotted the meeting, told Huhuonline.com that the governors were disappointed that Buhari decided to put his fate in the hands of Tinubu, who is not a “party man.” The APC governors, who controlled the administrative and political machinery of their states, felt snubbed at Buhari’s decision to put Tinubu in charge of the campaign; a decision he made without consulting even the chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. “How do you expect the governors to deliver for Buhari when Tinubu is the one calling the shots,” one source queried?
