23rd Jan 2023
Thousands of All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters, yesterday, left the venue of the party’s presidential campaign rally in Bauchi disappointed. This was after a visibly disturbed President Muhammadu Buhari and APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, could not address the crowds at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium due to a technical glitch with the public address system.
But the Tinubu Media Office dismissed the alleged displeasure at the venue as sheer insinuation, saying the crowd of party supporters and other residents, who thronged the streets of Bauchi to receive Buhari and Tinubu, were electrified by the duo.
However, at the palace of the Emir of Bauchi, His Royal Highness (Dr) Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu, Buhari assessed his over seven and a half years’ rule as civilian president and gave himself a pass mark. He said he had been able to serve Nigerians diligently to the best of his ability.
Buhari’s assessment came as President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, and the APC governors gave reasons why the north should vote Tinubu as the next president at the general election. And the ruling party told the Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, to start preparing his handover note ahead of the March 11 governorship election. The senate president and the governors said the governorship candidate of APC, former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Sadique Abubakar (rtd), was waiting to take over.
18th January 2023
Security operatives on Saturday had a tough time trying to control the crowd that thronged the Rwang Pam Stadium, Jos where President Muhammadu Buhari was expected to flag-off his re-election bid in Plateau.
News men report that efforts by Mr Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation, and ITF Director-General, Joe Ari, to convince the crowd to make space for the President to address the crowd were not successful.
NAN reports that Buhari eventually left the venue without addressing the crowd.
The supporters, who started thronging into the stadium as as early as 8 a.m., kept pushing themselves into the already filled stadium, and defied orders to remain outside since the arena was already filled up.
Mr Terna Tyopev, spokesperson of the Police Command in Plateau, had earlier said that 2,050 Police personnel had been deployed to ensure a hitch-free event.
9th January 2023
After a six-day Christmas and New Year break, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, last week resumed their presidential campaign activities with three rallies within the week in Kano, Edo and Ondo State, and with a town hall engagement with youths.
Most importantly, the Presidential Campaign Council of the party announced a review of the campaign timetable, showing that President Muhammadu Buhari will be joining the campaign train. The decision of Mr Buhari to stay away from the campaign had generated concerns within the party, as many viewed it as a sign of cracks in the ruling party.
The disquietness prompted the presidency to issue a press statement in December to dismiss speculations that president Buhari was not enthusiastic about Mr Tinubu’s presidency.
PREMIUM TIMES had also reported that Messrs Buhari and Tinubu held a closed-door meeting at the villa amidst the report that President Buhari was intentionally staying away from the campaign despite his promise of leading it from the front.
Opposition parties’ operatives have interpreted Mr Buhari’s “body language” to show all was not be well with the campaign.
However, Festus Keyamo, one of the spokespersons of the APC PCC, during an interview on Arise TV, said Mr Buhari’s seeming detachment was because he is not seeking to instal a puppet as former President Olusegun Obasanjo did in 2007 when he campaigned across the country to ensure the Umar Yar’Adua won the 2007 election.
Dec 29 2022
Less than 60 days to Nigeria’s Presidential election fixed for 25th of February, 2023, there are growing concerns over the level of support the All Progressives Congress (APC) is enjoying from the President, Muhammadu Buhari, who was elected twice on the party’s platform.
Insider source in the party has revealed that the party’s Presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu has not received the kind of support expected from the Buhari Presidency despite loud public claims that the President will campaign for candidate.
The views expressed by some Chieftains of the party indicate that the Presidency may not be too keen to display elaborate open support for the APC Presidential candidate.
The debate began to grow in the polity in recent times over Buhari’s real stand in Tinubu’s Presidential ambition, following what seemed an aloofness by the chief occupant of the Aso Rock Villa over his party’s candidate.
The belief in many quarters is that Buhari originally had a candidate, but that his inability to lay his card on the table on time, was why the matter went out of his hand, resulting in the emergence of Tinubu.
The President, it is said, has been struggling to come over the shock and now appears to have been caught between the devil and the blue sea.
Many analysts and commentators had, in the last few days, alleged that the body language of Buhari was not pointing towards any support for Tinubu.
Last month in London, the United Kingdom, after meeting King Charles III, President Buhari, had during an interview, urged Nigerian voters to “vote for whoever they like from whichever political party.”
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