By Muhammed Abubakar, Reporting
ONLY the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, can disclose the content of his electoral manifestos to Nigerians.
Minister of State, Labour and Employment and Director of Public Affairs and Chief spokesperson, Tinubu– Shettima Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo ( SAN) made the assertion on Wednesday in Abuja.
The occasion was at the end of a closed-door meeting between Tinubu, certain governors and chieftains of the party held at Lagos Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.
Journalists, who had been waiting for the outcome of the meeting, had asked for update on the manifesto of the party’s candidate and when he would commence the presidential campaigns.
Stonix News reports that the candidate of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, did flag off his campaign on Monday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
Keyamo, who maintained that there was no friction among party chieftains over the composition of APC’s campaign council, said Tinubu would decide when to present his blueprint to Nigerians.
He said the manifesto of the party’s presidential candidate was part of the agenda of the closed-door meeting.
“What you have seen here is the meeting of different layers of the party.
“It was the meeting of the major stakeholders of the party. The Progressive Governors, the NWC, and the PCC with the presidential candidate.
“We are a very united party with all the organs of the party working in unison towards one purpose.
“All we did today during the meeting was to review the draft of our manifesto. Our candidate is not the type that operates on his own.
“He carries everybody along. He presented the draft of the manifesto to all the stakeholders that looked at it. And guess what, almost all the stakeholders gave that draft more than 90 per cent pass mark.
“We can’t give you the content because we are not going to take it away from our candidate.
“He is going to present himself before Nigerians on a particular date and occasion.
“We have set up a small committee charged with the responsibility of reducing the manifesto documents to major highlights in message form.
“We will sell to even the market women, street traders in the most simple language.
“We don’t want to present to Nigerians a very complicated document that they cannot understand in simple terms.”
Keyamo further said the party was waiting for President Muhammadu Buhari to give a date convenient for him for the commencement of presidential campaigns.
“You know that the structure of our campaign involves Presidential diary. I have said that our campaign is not going to be like those that they can kick and start like small vehicles.
“It is like manouvering a 50-tonne tanker in a highway and once we hit the highway, it will be motion and movement.
“Since Mr President is the chairman of the Campaign Council, we are going to take his diary into consideration in picking and choosing the date.
“However, we have all virtually agreed to hit the street very soon. We have also agreed on the region we are going to kick-start but I won’t say that now.
“We have also agreed on all the basic issues. We just want to carry along the leader of the party, Mr. President and hit the street.
“We have accommodated all the interest groups in the campaign list. There was virtually no disagreement in the meeting today,” he noted.
In a separate session with journalists, National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, justified the absence of the national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, at the meeting.
“The National chairman was not missing, he was adequately represented by the deputy national chairman, North and the deputy national chairman, South and he was in touch with every stakeholder who was here.
“He did inform them of his inability to be here, but he was effectively represented,” Morka disclosed.
Governors sighted at the meeting were Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Rotimi Akeredolu, Mai Mala Buni, Yaya Bello, Simon Lalong and Professor Babagana Zulum – governors of Lagos, Ondo, Yobe, Kogi, Plateau and Borno States.
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