APC stakeholders defend Tinubu’s absence from campaign trail

Insist president’s achievements stand as enough testimony

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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders have dismissed the controversy over the absence of President Bola Tinubu from the campaign grounds, arguing that his achievements will provide enough testimony.

The stakeholders, under the leadership of the Tinubu Must Stay Movement (TMSM), who defended the President’s proposed absence from the campaign grounds, argued that there was no need to abandon governance for campaigning.

The Director General of the movement, Marcel Ngogbehei, said the decision represented a deviation from the tradition of political office holders abandoning governance after one year in office to start a re-election campaign.

Speaking to newsmen in Abuja, Ngogbehei said: “One of the greatest challenges we are having in this country is the time to govern and the time to do electioneering. So, a president gets into office and, just like that, one year after he gets into office, they start preparing for the next election.”

“And what suffers? Governance suffers. As a CEO of a company, you have four years, right? And then the culture of the country that has developed over time is that a year into your tenure, you start preparing for the next. Governance is abandoned and electioneering takes over.”

“The president has said, ‘I want to focus on governance. I want to keep an eye on the operational things that are happening, keep an eye on the key things I am doing. Let the people I have worked with go out there and do the work.'”

“He also said that in some instances where he needs to come in, he will come in. It is pure delegation. Every good leader must not always be there. If you are a leader that has built resources, that has built people, you should trust your people to do the job.”

“We don’t want to have a country where you have strong personalities and weak institutions. And that is what we are trying to build for Nigeria. As the DG, I have a lot of people that are working with me. There are instances where I have to ask them to step in. There are instances where I have to be there, then imagine the president.”

“He said that he is going to be in all the campaigns in 36 states of the country. What suffers? That is the bottom line. What is he giving up for that to happen? We are in a very difficult situation in this country where you need attention to detail. Let us understand with him. There are a lot of insinuations out there. He can go round the country if he wants to go round, and he has been going round. But let us just understand with him in these particular instances,” he appealed.

He called on Nigerians across all political and social spectra to engage in a transparent, factual and open discussion regarding the long-term impact of the current administration’s socio-economic and policy reforms.

“We are not defending Tinubu as a person. We are looking at the initiatives he has taken and asking ourselves whether, based on the circumstances in which he got into power, they are the right moves or the wrong moves,” Ngogbehei stated. “If you say they are the wrong moves, if you were there, what would you do differently?”