The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has faulted the notions held in certain quarters that President Muhammadu Buhari has abdicated his responsibility to lead the presidential campaign of the party.This follows concerns that the President may have handed over his campaigns for this year’s election to the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to enable him attend to governance.APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, explained that Buhari would surely partake in the party’s campaigns across the country, notwithstanding his tight schedule.
But National Chairman of the
African Democratic Congress (ADC), Chief Ralphs Okey Nwosu, described
the scenario as scandalous, saying: “There are three ways one can
explain this: It is the character of the man to shirk responsibility or
we have a zombie in the Villa, whom the cabals are in complete control
of, or this whole clone or body-double thing is not a mirage. Certainly,
something is wrong.
“First the rumours of body-doubles and
cloned Villa occupants, and now they are no longer disguising or
pretentious about it. It has been made clear that Tinubu doubles for
Buhari when campaigning to capture power.” In the same vein, the
Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) insisted that Tinubu’s
appointment speaks volume that Buhari is unfit to administer the
country.Its convener, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who addressed
reporters in Abuja, yesterday, argued that it was odd for the President
to hire a proxy to canvass for votes for him ahead of the February 16
presidential poll, claiming that Buhari’s lackadaisical approach to the
campaigns underlines the fact that the APC has perfected the plot to rig
the poll.
However, Dean, School of Communication, Lagos
State University (LASU), Professor Rotimi Olatunji countered: “The whole
idea of setting up a presidential campaign committee or team to manage
elections is not strange and represents part of the best practices in
political campaign planning and management. Afterall, a campaign should
be well-coordinated, purpose-driven and goal-directed. This is why
presidential and governorship candidates often appoint directors general
to coordinate political campaigns.“That Buhari has named Tinubu as the
overall coordinator of his second-term bid is not strange. What will be
strange is to totally abdicate the responsibilities in this connection.
“It
will be strange if the President fails to show up at campaign rallies.
After all, it is the President that is seeking the mandate of Nigerians,
not Tinubu. Nigerians will like to hold their ‘eventually’ elected
leaders accountable, based on their campaign pledges, not those of their
surrogates.” APC wondered why Buhari is being misunderstood over his
resolve to mandate Tinubu to lead its campaign council across the
country, saying the role assigned to Tinubu was aimed at ensuring that
issues relating to governance are not compromised on the alter of
political considerations as the elections draw closer.
Issa-Onilu
said: “The President himself said he would be actively involved in the
campaigns, but that the wellbeing of Nigerians is more paramount to him
than the politics of his re-election for another term of four years.
That explains the decision to mandate the national leader of our party
to oversee the day- to-day running of the campaign council.
“You
don’t expect the President to be involved in the planning of campaign
logistics involving transportation, food, drinks and entertainment by
artists at the campaign grounds. This was what he meant. The President,
who is the leader of the party, remains the leader and would do
everything to ensure the successes of our campaign.”He maintained that
Tinubu has the wherewithal to lead top notchers of the party to ensure
its success at the elections.
Similarly, the party’s National
Vice Chairman (South-South), Mr. Hilliard Eta, said Buhari acted in the
best interest of Nigerians.Making reference to the decision by the
opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to mandate Senate President
Bukola Saraki to lead its campaign, Eta said Buhari’s decision was in
order.He stressed: “The President did not say he was not leading the
campaign; he simply said he doesn’t want governance to suffer. He has
every right to delegate his responsibility to anybody he deems fit can
handle the job, and that was why he settled for Tinubu.”
Differing,
Nwosu said: “The nation has been governed by proxies for the last few
years and APC has allowed it. So, it is left to the Nigerian voters and
people to decide during the elections. Buhari is never available to the
people who elected him. This is why leaders of other nations treat us
with contempt. Political leaders and investors all over the world mock
us all the time.”
Reminded that the President said he took the
action because he doesn’t want governance to suffer, the ADC chief said:
“How low could governance get? All indicators score Buhari’s government
as the lowest since the Nigerian nation was founded.”According to CUPP:
“It is becoming increasingly clear that while the opposition, and
indeed, a majority of Nigerians are preparing for elections next month,
the APC is preparing for rigging. That was why its presidential
candidate, who is the incumbent President, refused to append his
signature to a Bill that would give the electoral process integrity and
credibility.
“They are even reportedly planning what they
described as low-key campaigns while they plot how to insulate their
candidate from campaigning and debating with opponents and tell
Nigerians why they must trust him with their lives for another four
years.“Buhari has, indeed, said Tinubu would do the campaigns on his
behalf. We hope he was misquoted, otherwise, Nigerians should simply ask
him to step back from the contest and let his party put Tinubu forward
as its candidate. Buhari would go down as the first candidate in history
to hire a proxy in a presidential contest.
“He is the one
contesting, he should not be afraid to be the one to interface directly
with Nigerians. We urge Nigerian people to insist that Buhari must show
that he is fit and able for the nation’s top job by leading his own
campaign and by being at the presidential candidates’ debate.“Anyone who
is afraid to come out and debate shoulder-to-shoulder with opponents
and speak directly to Nigerians is not deserving of the mandate of
Nigerians. lt would be nice to have Buhari mount the rostrum in all the
36 states and see him debate with our candidate and answer questions on
his stewardship so far and what else he has to offer. We look forward to
that day.”
To Olatunji: “If eventually Buhari fails to show up
on rostrums and eventually gets elected for the second term, then there
are grave consequences for the body politick. “The first implication is
that in future elections, any individual, competent or otherwise, can
contest for any elective post in the land without presenting the
electorate the opportunity to assess his/her level of competence or
preparedness to lead, which is what public campaigns offer for
democratic practices.
“Secondly, failure to openly participate in
campaigns implies that Nigerians cannot hold Buhari accountable for any
electoral promises or manifestoes. “The third implication has to do
with the health status or stamina of the President to continue in
office. If he does not consider himself fit to campaign, will Nigerians
consider him fit to lead?” On why the deviation from the norms, the
university don said it is in the realm of conjectures, though he
believed the President would actively participate in the campaigns.
“After
all, if you watch the other rival presidential candidates, it is the
associates that take turns to speak profusely, while the real candidates
just round up the campaigns. Recall also that that was the trend with
him when he contested the 2015 election.” He does not believe that by
appointing Tinubu as his overall campaign handler, Buhari would have
actually abdicated his democratic responsibility of engaging in public
campaigns for the post.
“But if he does, which will be both
strange and unfortunate, personal considerations, including his
popularly known health history, the rigours associated with traversing
the 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory
(FCT) and the strategic need to put one of his best feet in front
(Tinubu) may have added up to produce that decision, although none of
these reasons will be tenable or acceptable to Nigerians.” He added: “If
Buhari is not physically fit to showcase his programmes and strength
before Nigerians, he is probably not fit to rule the nation in the next
four years.
“Undoubtedly, for a President whose first term was
hugely negatively impacted due to long periods of medical vacations,
with the current age of the President, insinuations that he may be
trying to avoid the rigours of campaigns across the vast Nigerian
geographical space may be plausible.“This will also lead to further
suspicion that in the circumstance, the President does not intend to
submit himself to public scrutiny, either on his physical well-being or
that of his programmes.”
Source:- Guardianng
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