2019: Buhari still in charge of campaigns - APC insists

- The ruling APC has reacted to the allegation that President Buhari is abdicating his responsibility by handing over his campaign to Tinubu

- The spokesperson of the party, Issa-Onilu, said President Buhari is still in charge of the campaign and will partake in the party’s campaigns across the country

- Issa-Onilu explained that the role assigned to Tinubu was aimed at ensuring that issues relating to governance are not sacrificed for political campaigns

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has faulted the claims by opposition parties and others that President Muhammadu Buhari has abdicated his responsibility to lead the presidential campaign of the party.

President Buhari had earlier said he had handed over his campaigns for the 2019 presidential election to the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to enable him to attend to governance.

The Guardian reports that this has led to insinuations in some quarters that the president has abdicated his responsibility.

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For instance, the national chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Chief Ralphs Okey Nwosu, "something is wrong" with the move.

He said: “There are three ways one can explain this: It is the character of the man to shirk responsibility or we have a zombie in the Villa, whom the cabals are in complete control of, or this whole clone or body-double thing is not a mirage. Certainly, something is wrong.”

Also, the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) insisted that Tinubu’s appointment indicates that President Buhari is unfit to govern the country.

Its convener, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, said that it was odd for the president to hire a proxy to canvass for votes for him.

However, the APC’s national publicity secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, explained that President Buhari would surely partake in the party’s campaigns across the country, notwithstanding his tight schedule.

The ruling party wondered why President Buhari is being misunderstood over his resolve to mandate Tinubu to lead its campaign council across the country.

Issa-Onilu said the role assigned to Tinubu was aimed at ensuring that issues relating to governance are not sacrificed for political campaigns.

His words: “The president himself said he would be actively involved in the campaigns, but that the wellbeing of Nigerians is more paramount to him than the politics of his re-election for another term of four years. That explains the decision to mandate the national leader of our party to oversee the day-to-day running of the campaign council.

“You don’t expect the president to be involved in the planning of campaign logistics involving transportation, food, drinks and entertainment by artists at the campaign grounds. This was what he meant. The president, who is the leader of the party, remains the leader and would do everything to ensure the successes of our campaign.”

The APC’s spokesperson said that Tinubu has the wherewithal to lead top notchers of the party to ensure its success at the elections.

Meanwhile, the Dean of School of Communication, Lagos State University (LASU), Professor Rotimi Olatunji, believed that there is nothing strange in what the president has done. He, however, maintained that appointing Tinubu to lead the campaign does not mean the president will not show up at his campaigns.

He said: “The whole idea of setting up a presidential campaign committee or team to manage elections is not strange and represents part of the best practices in political campaign planning and management. After all, a campaign should be well-coordinated, purpose-driven and goal-directed. This is why presidential and governorship candidates often appoint directors general to coordinate political campaigns.

“That Buhari has named Tinubu as the overall coordinator of his second-term bid is not strange. What will be strange is to totally abdicate the responsibilities in this connection.

“It will be strange if the president fails to show up at campaign rallies. After all, it is the president that is seeking the mandate of Nigerians, not Tinubu. Nigerians will like to hold their ‘eventually’ elected leaders accountable, based on their campaign pledges, not those of their surrogates.”

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previoulsy reported that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has asked President Buhari not to use the handing over of the APC campaign to Tinubu as an excuse to be absent from the presidential debate.

The presidential debate which is organised by the Nigeria Election Debate Group, is slated for January 19, 2019.

The spokesperson for the Atiku Campaign Organisation, Segun Sowunmi, in an interview, said it was sad that whereas other presidential candidates were busy campaigning and wanting to be questioned by the people, Buhari was boycotting campaign because he had nothing to campaign for.

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