The All Progressives Congress (APC) has once again postponed the planned inauguration of its campaign earlier slated for October 8 was no longer feasible. This is because the presidential candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s return to Nigeria is tentatively slated for October 3, 2022.
This was made known by the Director of Media and Communications for Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga. According to Onanuga, as soon as Tinubu arrives, preparations will go into full gear.
He however, refused to discuss the controversial letter which the Chairman of the Party is said to have written to Tinubu complaining about the lopsided nature of the campaign list.
He said, “Number one, it is a draft. Two, it is not signed or dated. Besides, it is supposed to be a private letter from the party to the candidate.
“As far as I am concerned, that letter doesn’t exist. Anybody could have written that letter. After all, it is not signed.”
When reminded that the tone and context of the letter has further exposed the crack in the party over Tinubu’s handling of his campaign, Onanuga disagreed.
“As far as the APC is concerned, there is no rancour between the candidate and the party. The concerns that the NWC raised has been taken care of.
“That’s why the PCC list has been taken back to the drawing board to harmonise it to accommodate everybody. It is going to be a bulky list. But the truth remains that not everybody can be a member of the PCC,” he said.
According to the PCC media director, all things have been put on hold until the presidential candidate returns from his vacation either on Sunday or Monday.
As the PCC list continues to raise dust, a source at the secretariat confirmed that until the presidential candidate gives the nod, the additional fresh nominations for the campaign council cannot be released.
The APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, averred that it is no secret that many party members are asking to be included in the campaign council.
Morka made the clarification when he appeared on ‘Politics Today’, a programme on Channels television on Thursday night.
The party’s image-maker noted that, unlike the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, the APC is striving to manage and keep the numbers within a good limit.
He said, “As for the presidential campaign council, we have a good problem which is that many of our members are eager to sell on the campaign council and they are asking to be included.”