Crisis looms in APC as Govs Ayade, Abdulrazak, others sidelined Tinubu’s campaign list

Patrick OdeySeptember 28, 2022

2 minutes read

A fresh crisis may tear the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the composition of the Presidential Campaign list as governors accused the party candidate, Bola Tinubu of ignoring their nominees and replacing them with others from their respective states without consultation.

Newsflash Nigeria understands that the party had initially planned to kick off campaigns today but postponed the inauguration of its Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) indefinitely.

It was gathered that the postponement was due to the widening cracks in the APC following the setting up of the campaign council of the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.

The Director-General of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, said the commencement of its campaigns had been postponed indefinitely as a result of the move to expand the list to accommodate more stakeholders.

Some APC governors such as Governor Ben Ayade of Cross Rivers and Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazak of Kwara State, have allegedly accused the party’s presidential candidate of sidelining them and not protecting their interests.

The governors accused Tinubu of ignoring their nominees and replacing them with others from their respective states without consultation.

Recall that the choice of Senator Kashim Shettima as the party’s running mate is still brewing discontent in the ruling party.

Due to the decision to field a Muslim-Muslim ticket, some APC stakeholders, appointed to the campaign council, have decided to keep silent and stay away, while some have complained that they were not consulted.

According to Daily Sun, while some governors and party leaders feel they were sidelined in the composition of the campaign list, others are still fuming over the party’s decision to snub a northern Christian as vice-presidential candidate.

Muslim-Muslim Ticket

On the Muslim-Muslim ticket, another source told Daily Sun: “If there is a best way, I am sure that a Christian from the north would have been the best and I have no doubt in my mind about that, so why would they do a thing like that? The secretary to the government is a Christian and we do not win with votes from the North East, so, there is no excuse in the world because it is the North West that has the votes.

“So, you cannot say that he is going to bring all the votes from the north. The only thing that you can say is because he is a Muslim. A Muslim from the South is doing what a Muslim from the North would not do. A Muslim from the north would not choose another Muslim from the South. We have spoken but they are not listening.

“We went through the trouble of doing restructuring and packaged it in a way that was so well received.

“Maybe they held their meetings and afterwards, the South West started saying something different because they want to be president. What kind of thing is that? I am very depressed and mortified and I don’t think that there is a better way to describe how I am feeling.

“We have decided to step aside and watch from the sidelines. We have totally lost it in this country. If we haven’t lost it, how can an Accountant General steal over N108 billion? That is to show you how lose we are.”

The source stated that the ruling APC has put a stamp of official approval on corruption and would find out that a lot of its members have not even read the party’s manifesto.