He won’t disappoint, says campaign group

The Buhari Campaign Organisation (BCO) has hailed the choice of All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as leader of the campaigns for President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election in his capacity as co-chairman of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.

It said the former Lagos State governor will not disappoint the party and its standard bearer (President Buhari), in the electioneering process for the 2019 polls, judging by his tenacity and political structure.

The President’s support group made its position known yesterday in the wake of reports of alleged rising discontent within the APC over the composition of its presidential campaign council, which the President inaugurated yesterday in Abuja.

According to the said reports, state governors and some prominent members of the party were allegedly to be unhappy with the composition of the council of a belief that it is populated by those believed to a leader of the party.

But in a statement issued by its Director of Communications and Strategic Planning, Mallam Gidado Ibrahim, the BCO dismissed such reports, noting that there is no cause for alarm.

The group said: “There couldn’t have been a better choice for a head of the APC presidential campaign council for the forthcoming elections than Tinubu at a time the party is going into the general elections within a short period after undergoing a healing process spearheaded by Tinubu himself.

“If there is party supremacy whereby directives of party leaders are being enforced today, it was the ‘Jagaban’ who sustained it. By employing both partisan and non-partisan social forces, Tinubu was able to give validity and currency to party supremacy.

“In President Buhari’s thinking when he designated him to lead the consultation, reconciliation and confidence-building efforts in the APC last year, only a person of Tinubu’s political stand can settle all the intra-party feuds in the APC the way he provided the critical supplement for APC’s victory in 2015. And in earnest, the appointment of the former Lagos State governor to lead the APC reconciliation committee paid off.

“We believe that he will repeat this same feat of keeping the party as one and how he led the party to win the 2015 polls by leading the APC to a resounding victory in the forthcoming elections in his capacity as co-chairman of the party’s campaign train.

“Those who seem to be worried, going by reports, should relax their mind and give Tinubu the support he needs to actualise the party’s dream of emerging victorious in the 2019 polls.”

The BCO promised to mobilise hundreds of other support groups in the APC to give the Buhari and Tinubu-led presidential campaign council the support to garner votes during the elections.

Ibrahim said: “Already, the BCO is mobilising more than 100 support groups within the APC to assist the Buhari/Tinubu-led presidential campaign council execute a successful electioneering process. We believe that Tinubu has remained a rallying point in the APC and Nigerian politics.

“As one of the major architects of the merger which gave birth to the APC, he has proven that he has what it takes to stitch the torn parts of the governing party. With a unique and pungent modus operandi in politics, he commands respect in the party, which will turn out to be a big plus for the party in the forthcoming elections.”