Tinubu, governors, campaign council, NWC meet

PRESIDENTIAL candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, met with the APC presidential campaign council, representatives of governors and members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to finetune the manifesto of the party for the election. 

Governors sighted at the meeting were Babajide Sanwoolu, Rotimi Akeredolu, Mai Mala Buni, Yahaya Bello, Simon Lalong and Babagana Zulum, governors of Lagos, Ondo, Yobe, Kogi, Plateau and Borno states, respectively. 

Though the national chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, was absent at the meeting, national publicity secretary, Felix Morka, said he was represented by the deputy national chairman, North and the deputy national chairman, South and was in touch with every stakeholder at the meeting. 

Speaking at the end of the meeting, Minister of State, Labour and Employment and chief spokesperson, APC Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, said only Tinubu can divulge the content of his electoral promises to Nigerians. 

Keyamo, at the end of a closed-door meeting held at the Lagos Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, said there was no friction among party chieftains over composition of campaign council, adding that Tinubu would decide when to present his blueprint to Nigerians. He said the manifesto of the party presidential candidate was part of the agenda of the closed-door meeting. 

He said, “What you have seen here is the meeting of different layers of the party. 

“It was the meeting of the major stakeholders of the party. The progressive governors, the NWC, and the PCC with the presidential candidate. We are a very united party with all the organs of the party working in unison towards one purpose. 

“All we did today during the meeting was to review the draft of our manifesto. Our candidate is not the type that operates on his own. He carries everybody along. 

“He presented the draft of the manifesto to all the stakeholders that looked at it. And guess what, almost all the stakeholders gave that draft more than 90 per cent pass mark. 

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“We can’t give you the content because we are not going to take it away from our candidate. He is going to present himself before Nigerians on a particular date and occasion. We have set up a small committee charged with the responsibility of reducing the manifesto documents to major highlights in message form. We will sell to even the market women, street traders in the simplest language. 

“We don’t want to present to Nigerians a very complicated document that they cannot understand in simple terms.” 

The minister also said the party is waiting for President Muhammadu Buhari to give a date convenient for him for the commencement of presidential campaigns. 

He added, “You know that the structure of our campaign involves a presidential diary. I have said that our campaign is not going to be like those that they can kick and start like small vehicles. It is like maneuvering a 50-tonne tanker in a highway and once we hit the highway, it will be motion and movement. 

“Since Mr President is the chairman of the campaign council, we are going to take his diary into consideration in picking and choosing the date. However, we have all virtually agreed to hit the street very soon. We have also agreed on the region we are going to kick-start but I won’t say that now. We have also agreed on all the basic issues. We just want to carry along the leader of the party, Mr President and hit the street. 

“We have accommodated all the interest groups in the campaign list. There was virtually no disagreement in the meeting today.”