Despite a warning by the Department of State Security Services against inflammatory statements by politicians, the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Saturday reiterated its threat to form a parallel government if the February 14 presidential election was rigged to hand President Goodluck Jonathan a second term.
APC, however, expressed its readiness to congratulate the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if he won re-election in a transparent and credible process. The national chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, stated this in a New Year message, which he personally signed.
But APC did not say if it would be the judge and jury to decide if elections were rigged.
This was as the race for the presidency entered its final stages, with PDP fixing January 8 for the kick-off of its nationwide presidential election campaign in Lagos, and APC scheduling a presidential campaign rally for January 5 in Rivers State. Although, it is not clear if the proposed rally would mark the formal commencement of APC’s nationwide presidential campaign.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh; Head, Media and Publicity of the presidential campaign team, Femi Fani-Kayode; and Deputy National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, were among key party officials that confirmed the campaign kick-off arrangements at the weekend.
Though, the main opposition party, APC, is yet to announce a date for the start of its presidential campaign, indications are that it may be launched this week at the resumption of work after the Yuletide and Eid-el-Maulud holidays.
Odigie-Oyegun said in the statement released at the weekend, “As a party, we assure you that we will congratulate President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party if our presidential election candidate and the party are defeated in free and fair elections and will not go to court.
“However, as a party, we wish to reiterate that we will not hesitate to consider forming a parallel government if the 2015 elections are rigged either by use of security agencies (police and military) to harass, intimidate and cajole voters or through the use of a compromised Independent National Electoral Commission.”
The APC National Chairman congratulated Nigerians on the Christmas, Eid-el-Maulud, and New Year celebrations, but stressed, “We are aware that it has been bleak celebrations for all of us because of the poor performance of the economy, litany of failed promises and general decay in governance in our dear country, including unpaid salaries, which is as a result of the drop in the state and local government revenues.
“The drop in state and local government revenue is as a result of corruption in government, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and oil theft supervised by government. We ask all Nigerians to exercise fortitude because the change we seek is almost here.
“We wish to also remind you that the change we expect will be a consequence of your action. That action will be to vote massively for the All Progressives Congress in the next election to herald a new dawn and bid farewell to the failed leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party.
“We ask you to collectively insist on free, fair and transparent elections because that is the only way to allow the wishes of the people to manifest.”
The week will be a busy one for the two main parties.
A member of the PDP presidential campaign team, who did not want to be named, said Lagos was strategically picked for the commencement of the campaign for Jonathan’s re-election to “make tremendous impact in the South-west states.”
At the last presidential election in 2011, PDP had launched the campaign to elect Jonathan, then acting president, in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital. The kick-off of the campaign in the North-central was an apparent attempt to boost the party’s strength in the zone that had seemed to hold important swing votes in that election. The strategy, obviously, was to use the North-central votes to whittle down the effect of Buhari, the then Congress for Progress Change (CPC) candidate’s fiercely growing popularity in the North. It seemed to work for PDP then.
Ahead of the next presidential election, PDP has, apparently, chosen Lagos for the kick-off of its campaign to strategically poach on the APC territory. South-west has the second highest voter population after North-west, and Lagos has the highest number of registered voters in the country. Besides, Lagos is a stronghold of APC and the home of APC national leader, Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the party is popular in all the states of the South-west.
A source in PDP said the kick-off of the presidential campaigns in the South-west was to ensure that the governorship candidates of the party in the zone were handed the party’s flags for the elections.
The source added, “The decision of the party to kick off from the South-west is to tell the world that PDP is serious about capturing the South-west.
“A good start with our campaigns in the zone is a way of telling the world that the zone is a good fishing ground for votes and letting the APC know that it would not be allowed or given a free hand in the South-west states.”
Buhari will formally open his new campaign office located along Herbert Macaulay Way, near the War College, in the Central Business District of Abuja, this week.
As part of preparations for the launch of its presidential campaign, the national leadership of APC has been consulting with various stakeholders on how to build a common national campaign platform. A reliable party source told THISDAY that the party’s national leadership would most likely meet on or before Tuesday this week to inaugurate the campaign team.
Buhari had in 2011 launched his campaign in Kaduna, a strategic support base for the former Head of State and then CPC presidential candidate. The state was, however, governed by PDP and is the home of Vice President Namadi Sambo. Now as APC presidential candidate, there is strong speculation that his campaign kick-off may take place in Rivers State, an important state for both Buhari and Jonathan. The state governor, Chibuike Amaechi, is the Director-General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation and the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, is from the State.
APC plans to get all the critical stakeholders of the party involved in the campaign to return its presidential candidate. The Director of Communications of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Mr. Dele Alake, said Buhari had secured the full support of all the other presidential aspirants, namely, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, and Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha, and Sam Nda-Isaiah.
Alake said all the aspirants had agreed to collapse their campaign structures into a central body that will soon be inaugurated by the leadership of the party.
In the meantime, APC has faulted the constitution of the composition of the PDP presidential campaign team, especially the inclusion of Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and former Minister of Aviation, Chief Fani-Kayode, in the team. APC said the composition of the team was the height of partisanship.
APC National Publicity Secretary Lai Mohammed said, “Appointing a person like Fani-Kayode as his campaign director of publicity is telling Nigerians once again that this man is not capable of fighting corruption. President Jonathan is rather hugging corruption. Just like some people have rightly observed, the president has surrounded himself with people of questionable characters.
“In the case of the membership of the campaign team by the Finance Minister, it shows clearly that as far as these people are concerned, professionalism and patriotism are sacrificed on the altar of partisan politics. The minister no longer sees herself as Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria but as Minister of the PDP.
“However, we feel it does not matter who they put in their campaign team, they have lost this election because as you can see, the people of Nigeria are now campaigning for us. Our party has now become like a movement and we are getting support from unlikely quarters, such as from Reverend Father Mbaka.”
Meanwhile, against the backdrop of concerns about the safety of the insurgency-prone areas for political campaigns, the military has assured that Jonathan and the APC presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, as well as other candidates are safe to campaign anywhere in the country. This, the military said, includes parts of the North-east where the Boko Haram terrorist group has launched a murderous onslaught since 2009.
An authoritative military source, who spoke on Saturday on condition of anonymity, assured that no part of the country would be a “no go area” for the president of the country, not even the notorious Sambisa forest in Borno State.
The military source said, “We are doing our job as usual and our major concern is the North-east. As for whether it is safe for the presidential aspirants to campaign in those areas, that is left for their respective parties to decide.
“Ours is to keep working to ensure that the atmosphere is safe and conducive enough for campaign and elections.
“After all, you could remember that there was even local elections recently in Gombe State. This was done in all the local government areas successfully and, therefore, if you can conduct elections, why not a campaign.
“We want to assure that whatever it takes for us to take the president anywhere in this country, we will do it. This is one critical element of our sovereignty, as there can be no-go area for the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in this country. We will not allow such no-go area for him, even if he decides to campaign in Sambisa, we will take him there.”
Also, as controversy continued to trail the academic credentials of Buhari, the Nigerian Army has said it is not in custody of his original certificates.
The Director of Army Public Relations (DAPR), Brig-Gen. Olajide Laleye, while responding to THISDAY enquiries confirmed that even though the Military Secretary had copies of credentials, the original certificates are with the individual officers.
Laleye pointed out that the copies in its possession domiciled in the Military Secretary’s office were accessible to their owners, including Buhari, within 24 hours.
According to him, “the Military Secretary is the custodian of the military records of all officers serving, retired or deceased. Therefore original credentials are with the officer while copies are with the Military Secretary. Gaining access to one’s credentials in the Military Secretary’s office is possible within 24 hours,” he said.
The Army PR director however wondered why Buhari’s certificates should be an issue when the same candidate had contested three times for Presidency and must have presented some sort of credentials to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“If I may ask: Where are your credentials? With you or your employer? For someone who is attempting this for the fourth time, what did he do in the first three attempts that makes the fourth attempt different?,” he queried.
This clarification is coming on the heels of controversy generated by media reports few days after Buhari had sworn to an affidavit submitted to INEC that all his academic credentials were with the Military Board.
A copy of the CV made available to THISDAY by the APC presidential candidate’s Press Secretary, Mr. Salisu Suleiman, yesterday showed that the retired general attended Elementary School Daura & Mai Aduwa from 1948 to 1952 and Middle School, Katsina from 1953 – 1956. From there, he proceeded to Katsina Provincial Secondary School (now Government College, Katsina), where he studied between 1956 and 1961.
Thereafter, he pursued military education starting with a stint at Nigerian Military Training School, Kaduna in 1963 to his training at Cadet Officer Course Aldershot, UK (1963); Platoon Commander Course at Nigeria Military College, Kaduna (1963 - 1964); Army Mechanical Transport School, Bordan, England (1965), Defence Service Staff College, Wellington India (1973 - 1974), culminating in a course at the United States Army War College between 1979 and 1980.
His military career spans 22 years starting from when he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in 1963 to when his regime was ousted by a coup d’etat led by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) in 1985.
Post a Comment Blogger Facebook Disqus