APC rejoices as Buhari agrees to campaign for Tinubu in 10 states

The Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress has released a revised campaign schedule showing that President Muhammadu Buhari will attend the party’s presidential campaign in at least ten states of the federation.

In a statement on Friday morning, the party’s campaign spokesman, Festus Keyamo, said Mr. Buhari will be available to wave the broom and mobilize voters in Adamawa on January 9, Yobe on January 10, Sokoto on January 16, Kwara on January 17 and Ogun on. January 25th.

The President, Mr. Keyamo said, will also be at a rally in Cross River on January 30, Nasarawa on February 4, Katsina on February 6 and Imo on February 14.

Mr. Buhari will also participate in the grand finale of the APC presidential campaign in Lagos on February 18 ahead of the election on February 25, the campaign spokesperson said.

The President, on November 15, 2022, attended the APC presidential campaign flag in Jos, the Plateau State capital. He subsequently stayed away from campaign activities, a development that led to speculation that he was not committed to the Bola Tinubu-Kashim Shettima presidential ticket of the APC.

Mr Buhari’s decision to rejoin the campaign immediately sparked excitement at the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), with Mr Keyamo describing the development as a demonstration of the president’s “more personal commitment to the election of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu”.

“The PCC is deeply grateful to President Buhari, the leader of our great Party, for his sterling leadership and inspiration at this time and for galvanizing our teeming members and supporters across the country,” Mr. Keyamo said.

“We call on the faithful and supporters of the party to come out en masse, as usual, in the upcoming campaign rally. The zero hour is near; our spirits must be high; we must not give up in this collective march for the victory that God has ordained .

Since 2003 when he first became Nigeria’s president, Mr. Buhari has proven that he is a popular and influential political figure, especially in the northern part of the country. It is unclear whether the party’s poor performance in delivering electoral promises to Nigerians over the past seven years has dampened its popularity.

However, some political pundits believe that having a President in the APC presidential train can attract more support and voters for the Tinubu-Shettima ticket.

It was also argued that Mr. Tinubu gave Mr. Buhari unstinted support and contributed significantly to his victory in the 2015 and 2019 elections and it must be the President’s time to repay the APC candidate in the same way.

“Buhari is in Abuja,” popular political analyst Ugo Egbujo wrote on Facebook during the day Mr. Tinubu campaigned in Kano. “Buhari is fit and strong. Buhari is not in Kano. Buhari should be in Kano. One good turn deserves another. Obama is everywhere for Clinton. Obasanjo was everywhere for Yaradua.

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“Governors go everywhere for their successors. Buhari is 80, but he travels all over the world. Tinubu is everywhere for Fashola. Tinubu is everywhere for Buhari. Buhari is needed.”