From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
For the first time in a very long while, there was a semblance of peace almost throughout last week in the All Progressives Congress (APC) since the beginning of the build-up to the much-awaited official commencement of its presidential campaign.
The protracted controversies that trailed the composition of the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) were finally laid to rest, judging by the calmness that pervaded the air after the release of the comprehensive campaign list.
Instructively, there were also visible indicators that the PCC leadership may have finally allowed peace to reign by allowing the National Working Committee (NWC), to officially release the campaign list to the public with the party’s National Secretary, Oyiola Omisere, appending his signature on the list.
Also, little or nothing was heard about what now seems to be the usual trending trademark utterances of the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed, for the public to feed on.
The party’s national secretariat, the Buhari House, witnessed a beehive of endless activities with some members of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), especially the Director-General of APC PCC, Governor Simon Lalong and his deputy, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, among others endlessly visiting, perhaps to consult with the party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu.
More importantly, the much-postponed inauguration of the APC PCC members and the unveiling of Asiwaju’s action plan for a better Nigeria was finally held at the State House Abuja, to officially herald the kick-off of the party’s campaign activities.
To convince all doubting Thomases, the build-up was seamless and the event proper, interestingly, had the trappings of a carnival. It was also an intimidating roll call of almost all the political heavyweights in the party.
They included President Muhammadu Buhari, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, Speaker House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, the presidential and vice presidential candidates, Asiwaju and Kashim Shettima, almost all the members of PGF, members of the Abdullahi Adamu-led national leadership and Segun Osoba.
Others physically present include some APC presidential aspirants, like former governor of Zamfara State, Sani Yerima, former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, governors of Ebonyi and Kogi States, David Umahi and Yahaya Bello, Felix Nicholas, Uju Ken-Ohanenye among others.
On the flip side, it was not, however all sunshine as some notable aggrieved presidential aspirants shunned the inauguration and unveiling event held last week Friday.
Notable among those conspicuously absent included Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, his counterparts in Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, and expectedly Education for State, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, among negligible others.
Despite the assurances on the eve of the event from the party’s chairman, Adamu, who announced the readiness of the presidential aspirants to key in into the campaign activities and party’s programmes, few of them have continued to remain aloof.
Although the absence of bereaved Amaechi, who was involved in burial activities the same day was understandable, that of Osinbajo and his commitment to the party had raised more curiosity, especially at the inauguration event held at his doorstep at Aso Rock, raised a lot of questions.
Apart from the insignificant absence of the aggrieved presidential aspirants, the inauguration and unveiling of Tinubu’s manifesto lived up to expectations and was essentially a speech-making event.
From the party’s chairman, the headship of the PCC, the presidential running mate, his boss, Tinubu, to President Buhari, the speeches were dominated by messages of hope and assurances of a bright future and fortune for the party in next year’s presidential poll and even beyond.
While Adamu confidently claimed that APC leadership of the country was assured, President Buhari, promised full backing to the APC retaining power beyond 2023 even as the candidate, rolled out an intimidating manifesto he tagged renewed hope 2023: Action Plan for better Nigeria. He promised Nigerians a bright future if he eventually emerges victorious at the presidential poll next year.
Highlighting the most important factor going into the election, Adamu in his address, said: “It is a moment we solemnly reassure Nigerians that our party is united around a common cause, the cause of peace, unity, and national development. We will neither shirk our responsibilities nor disappoint our teeming millions of supporters in all corners and crannies of our great country. The APC leadership of the country is cast in stone.
“I congratulate and salute all the members of the PCC, the illustrious men and women who have accepted to serve our party. They are in it for a great and selfless purpose. And that is to work tirelessly, honestly, and committedly for the victory of our party at all levels of the electoral contest next year.
“On their broad and strong shoulders rest the fate of our party in the general elections of 2023. I know we stand together in the task ahead; we must not take the continued support of the people for granted. This party stands once more on the records of its performance at national and sub-national levels. Still, the only thing that will guarantee our victory is our unity of purpose and hard work with discipline. We demonstrated that in 2015 and 2019. Let us demonstrate it again in the year 2023,” Adamu charged.
Also thrilling his supporters, Tinubu, while unveiling the 80-page multi-sectoral document, promised that he and his running mate are capable and more than ever ready to hit ground running from day one once elected next year.
He emphasised that the country needs an “experienced torchbearer” to guide it through the doors of security, prosperity and greatness, claiming that his experience in transforming Lagos State to one of the leading economies in Africa placed him in the best vantage position to help actualise his action plan.
“It is, therefore, fitting that we are unveiling the Tinubu/Shettima Action Plan for a Better Nigeria. This plan is not only a roadmap to a prosperous future, it also serves as notice to the Nigerian people that, if elected, Senator Shettima and I shall work tirelessly to reach that promised future from the first moment of the first day we enter office.
“The doors to security, prosperity and greatness are open to us. We must step through these portals, guided by a torchbearer with the experience and mettle to shoulder the task ahead. Nothing short of this will suffice.
“I seek to become the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because I know the way. My experience and past performance assure that. It will be through collective effort and national endeavour that we join hands, cross divides, and achieve our vision,” Tinubu said.
He also disclosed that his campaign roadmap was borne out of interactions with Nigerians across the country who shared their needs and aspirations with him and Shettima in the course of their travelling round the country.
“I ask you to join Shettima and I on this journey. We have traversed every part of our nation, listening to the concerns and yearnings of Nigerians for a more prosperous and equitable society – better able to acknowledge and nurture the dreams of her people. We share the peoples’ desire for a peaceful Nigeria where we all coexist in fairness, prosperity and with balanced representation in positions of authority.
“After visiting and meeting our compatriots; young and old, poor and rich, educated and uneducated, Christian and Muslim; we recognize that no Nigerian wants empty answers to hard questions at this hour.
“The country does not need fancy promises or foreign experiments. Nigerians seek sustained progress and reform through stable governance and proven leadership.
“We need true and innovative solutions that address the specific challenges of each of our 36 states and our over 200 million people. We need our own Miracle on the Niger River,” he added.
But many argue that beyond the razzmatazz and funfair of thrilling his supporters with the beautiful speech, one sensitive issue that might however count against his presidential aspiration, if handled with levity, is his promise of “federalism and decentralisation of power in pursuit of a more balanced democracy.”
According to his manifesto, “since our nation’s inception, too much power and resources have been lodged at the federal level. This has come at the expense of state and local governance. This is problematic because state governments are closer to the people and must be more responsive to local needs and aspirations.
“A Tinubu administration will rebalance the responsibilities and authorities of the different tiers of government. We will collaborate with the National Assembly and State Governments to amend our national governance architecture such that states are afforded the autonomy and resources needed to better serve the people.”
Asiwaju further emphasised that; “to achieve the above objectives, our government will pursue the following objectives: constitution review: Review the Constitutional legislative lists to ensure that states are given greater control over certain critical matters. Focus areas will include crime prevention, prisons, stamp duties and certain forms of taxation.”
“On resource allocation; we will embark on a review of the federation revenue allocation system to recalibrate the division of funds amongst the three tiers of Government: Federal, State and Local. More funds should be allocated to the States and Local Governments so that they can better address local concerns and fulfil their expanded constitutional obligations to the people.
“This promotes stronger governance at the state and local level, thus reducing political congestion and competition for resources at the federal level. The performance of federal, state and local governments shall improve while the people will benefit by having more political democracy and economic development more closely at hand,” he promised.
Irrespective of his alluring promises on federalism, many Nigerians would not only hold the manifesto with a pinch of salt but also regard it as utopic because apart from the challenges of implementation, they are not different from the unfulfilled campaign promises APC gave Nigerians to wrest power from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015.
A chieftain of the party who spoke to Daily Sun in confidence said that he won’t be beguiled by the content of the manifesto Tinubu presented, arguing that Nigeria has become a country where manifestos and campaign promises make little or no input in deciding the outcome of elections.
“Apart from saying it only in the passing, what is the level of implementation of the campaign promises that brought our party to power in 2015? We also promised to restructure and even constituted a committee headed by Governor Nasil El-rufai, but did we go beyond that? What is the level of execution of the N5000 monthly stipend our party promised to give all jobless youths?
“You see, in the political history of this country, party manifesto and campaign promises are archival materials once elections are won and lost. To a large extent, the manifesto never and will never determine the outcome of elections, especially in a country weaponized by vote buying as major instrument of winning elections.
“How many of the items in the manifesto that brought President Buhari to power have been implemented to the letters? Any party and its candidate with an attractive manifesto but without any financial backing to do the needful during the election, like an elephant will never fly. The manifesto can only serve as a talking point or campaign instrument in Nigeria,” the party chieftain argued.
However, the icing on the cake in the build-up to campaign activities was the promise by President Buhari, to be at the forefront of Tinubu campaign, despite all the speculations that he may not be favourably disposed to deploy incumbency machinery to secure victory for APC.
In his assurance of solid support, Buhari said: “It would be disastrous to allow a situation that will lead to the reversal of the progress our country has made. Let me add that I joyfully accept the position of chairman of the campaign council we are unveiling today.
“Our candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is too well known for his capacity and can-do spirit. He stands tall in his track records as a democrat, a champion of the rule of law, a man at home in every part of our country, and a truly visionary leader. All you need to do is to think of Lagos in 1999 and 2022!
“I, therefore, want to assure all party members and supporters of our government that I will be at the forefront of this campaign. This election is even more important than the election of 2015 that brought us into power. The cost of losing the gains our country has made is much more than the need to stop the haemorrhage that led to our coming together nearly nine years ago.
“I want to charge every member to put in all their efforts during the next four and half months of campaign to ensure we record a resounding victory in all our elections nationwide. The future of this country is safer in our hands,”’ he declared.
The starting lines for the over four-month campaign are set and all eyes are now focused on the who emerges victorious in February next year’s presidential election.