Ahead of Saturday’s elections in Nigeria, the three leading political parties have upped their last-minute strategies to woo the electorate.
To this end, the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar; and the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, are busy wrapping up their campaign tours and firming up their promises, as well as showcasing their respective areas of strength.
At the weekend PDP’s Atiku faced a crucial test to the challenge to the presidential candidacy of the leading opposition party in the country.
•Endorsements for PDP candidate
On Friday, five political parties contesting in the 2023 elections adopted Atiku as the standard-bearer of the PDP for the presidential election, but an opposing group from within the party, the G5 governors led by Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, opposed the position.
The political parties that allegedly ratified Atiku’s candidacy in the PDP include mainstream movements like the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Action Alliance (AA), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), and National Rescue Movement (NRM).
But yesterday, there were reports that the ADC had denied that its structures had collapsed into the PDP arrangement, creating some worry in the Wazirin Adamawa’s political camp.
The parties that reportedly ratified Atiku said they made the decision public at the PDP presidential rally in Yola, the capital of Adamawa State, Atiku’s home base.
The occasion was witnessed by the chairpersons of the five political parties who attended the rally.
Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, the National Chairman of APM, Yusuf Dantalle, said Atiku is the best choice for the country.
•The G5 albatross
Meanwhile, the G5 PDP governors had split a few days before the 2023 presidential election. They have been reported to have endorsed different presidential candidates after failing to collectively agree on who to support.
For instance, while Rivers state governors, Nyesom Wike, and his Oyo counterpart, Seyi Makinde endorsed Tinubu, their Benue State colleague, Samuel Ortom, endorsed Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).
Governors Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, however, decided to support their party’s flag bearer, Atiku.
*APC convene strategy meeting
Similar last-minute deft moves were made in the political camp of APC presidential candidate, Tinubu, and his running mate, Kashim Shettima, who were treated to entertaining scenes of support by elicited supporters in Borno State at the weekend..
On Saturday, February 18, an enthusiastic crowd of supporters turned up at the APC rally in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, turning the streets carnival-like.
According to a statement from the Tinubu Media Office released yesterday, major city streets were filled with jubilant supporters bearing placards and banners expressing their support for the APC candidates in the coming weekend’s election.
According to the statement, a heavy campaign train brought human and vehicular movements to a halt in major parts of the city as attendees abandoned their vehicles to trek long distances to catch a glimpse of their presidential candidate.
Reports say that, at the palace of the paramount traditional ruler in the state, the Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai El-Kanemi, and later at the rally, Tinubu assured his supporters of victory at the forthcoming presidential election.
State governor, Babagana Zulum, a professor, thanked the APC presidential candidate “for picking a son of the state as his running mate”
“You have done all for us and now it is for us to deliver APC in Borno State,” Zulum said.
The governor also said Tinubu is more than a political ally for the state, stressing that he had shown concern for the difficult times that Borno went through.
In response to the governor’s speech, Tinubu promised to re-activate oil exploration in the Lake Chad Basin and recharge the drying lake to generate jobs and boost agricultural production in the area.
“Security is top on our agenda and Nigeria will see peace and stability. The Borno people and their neighbours will witness prosperity and happiness,” he said.
Tinubu also assuaged the feeling of those who are facing difficulties at the moment, saying ease would soon come their way.
Speaking on the election, an APC chieftain, Murtala Ajaka, said Tinubu will shock his main rival, Atiku, in Borno State.
Harping on the reported success of the presidential rally, Ajaka, who is the party’s deputy national publicity, had just declared that the APC, said Tinubu will shock the presidential candidate in the northeast region where Atiku hails from.
Ajaka, at the presidential rally, thanked the state governor and the people of Borno for coming out en masse to support the APC.
He said not even the biting cashless policy of the Federal Government that is causing a rift between the powers-that-be and the Tinubu camp, will stop the determined people of Borno and the entire North-East from voting for the APC in the forthcoming polls.
•We’re ready for Saturday’s poll, says INEC
President Buhari also yesterday drummed home his support for Tinubu, in a viral video.
The president also spoke shortly after the meeting which saw all the state governors keeping mum, including Tinubu, signifying in unmistakable terms that all is not well within the party.
*‘High note’ campaign for LP
Meanwhile, the ‘third force’ Labour Party (LP) has ended its campaign on what has been termed a ‘high note’.
Thousands of its supporters swarmed the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos on February 11 to show solidarity with the presidential flag bearers of the party, Peter Obi and Kashim Shettima.
Earlier on the final day of the party’s presidential rally held at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos, throngs of people chanted and danced to music blared from giant loudspeakers as they waited for Obi to arrive.
Music stars P-Square, and African China took turns to entertain the crowd, mostly youths, in the sweltering afternoon sun, while armed police officers and barrel-chested security guards frisked people at the gates.
El-Rufai orders Kaduna agencies to accept old notes, defies Buhari
“Only [Peter] Obi and my humble self are ready to lead Nigeria to greatness. Nigeria is that great country on the surface of the earth that has been denied leadership,” Datti Baba-Ahmed, the Labour Party’s vice presidential candidate, told the crowd.
He added: “Peter Obi is that international mega superstar.”
•INEC: We’re ready for Saturday polls
In another development, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday disclosed that it would, this week, convene an emergency security meeting with relevant security agencies to deliberate on the escalating spate of protests across the country in a few days to the conduct of the coming presidential and National Assembly elections.
Although the commission did not reveal the date for the meeting, it, however, explained that the disturbing spate of protests has necessitated the emergency meeting to secure assurances from the security agencies on the possibility of securing an environment for the elections to go ahead peacefully nationwide.
INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this while fielding questions from newsmen after inspecting the training of ad-hoc staff and the venue of the collation centre for the presidential election at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja.
He said, “On what is happening around the country, the protest that you mentioned, it is a security matter. This is an issue that we are going to discuss with the security agencies. As you know we have our roles clearly cut out and others also have their roles cut out, but the most important thing is that we are working together.
“The security agencies have assured and reassured that they will secure the environment for elections to hold peacefully nationwide. So, we have no issues in that respect.”
Yakubu also commented on speculations that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) may not meet up with INEC’s demand for cash to execute some of the Election Day logistics, assuring that the apex bank would not fail.
“We visited the CBN last week on the issue of cash for payment of some of the services not all, some of the services that we are going to engage on Election Day. The bulk of payments for goods, works and services are made by the commission through electronic transfer.
“However, there are certain critical services that we have to remunerate by cash. And that is why we went to the CBN for help, but it is a small percentage of the budget and the CBN has assured us that, as I keep saying, we will not suffer any encumbrances in that regard, so there are no issues concerning that,” he assured.
