By Omoniyi Salaudeen
The long-awaited inauguration of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign is slated to kick off in Kano on Tuesday.
In this interview, a member of the Presidential Campaign Council of the party, Senator Anthony Adeniyi (SAN), expressed confidence that the 2023 general elections would be a walkover for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, notwithstanding the public perception of the performance of the present government of President Muhammadu Buhari. Excerpts:
There is a media report about the perceived disquiet within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over the composition of its Presidential Campaign Council (PPC). Why are the governors not carried along in the selection of the Council members?
They were all carried along. They were the ones that nominated those appointed as members of the campaign council, though not all of them. The problem with the composition of the Presidential Campaign Council of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu is that some people believe that it is going to be the basis for future appointments into political offices if the party eventually wins the election. That is why people are so desperate about being a member of the council. Even my name was not included until the recent review.
There are also a lot of speculations about the delay in the inauguration of your Campaign Council. Why is it dragging?
There is no issue of delay in the campaign inauguration. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officially lifted the ban on political campaigns on September 28, but we have between now and the last week of February to do our campaigns. So, what are all the hues and cries about the delay for? The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, knows the reason he did his own inauguration at the time he did. Peter Obi of the Labour Party also has his reasons for doing so at the time he did. We are a different political party; we are not going to copy anybody. Although other activities are ongoing, we are officially launching our campaign activities in Kano on Tuesday.
Yes, you have a very long time to campaign. But what are you going to present to the Nigerian people as your manifesto, bearing in mind the performance of the present government?
We don’t want to let the cat out of the bag yet until we are ready to launch our manifesto. We, members of the manifesto committee, are going to meet in Abuja next week. People should exercise patience and wait for the committee to conclude its assignment. A couple of days ago, I watched the test-running of the Second Niger Bridge, it was great. It’s a major achievement. Looking at it holistically, no president has surpassed Buhari’s record of achievements. Even the problem of insecurity that everybody is talking about is gradually subsiding. This past week, the remaining victims of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack were freed by the military without any collateral damage. By next week, the normal train services will be restored. With the recent arrest of Mamu, it is now obvious that some Nigerians are feeding fat on the challenge of insecurity. By the time we put the performance of the APC-led government side by side with that of the PDP, people will see a clear difference.
People have been saying that this election will spring a surprise. Are you also not surprised that Peter Obi is pulling the kind of crowd he is pulling?
The beauty of music is not in its noise. Obi has no crowd. How do you expect a candidate running on the platform of a party that does not have councillors, state, and National Assembly members, or a governor to win an election? Did you watch the recent women’s rally in Imo State? That is what they called structure. If you talk about Atiku, we can say, yes, it is a genuine fear. Obi will record an abysmal failure in this election. They are making noise about Obedients. Where are they? We are even happy that he is going to split Atiku’s votes in the Southeast. That’s all. So, we don’t have any fear.
The new budget proposal before the National Assembly is going to be on deficit financing again and people are increasingly getting worried about Nigeria’s rising debt profile. Is that not a cause for worry?
There could be deficit budget financing if there is no money to finance it. But I can assure you, Tinubu will raise revenue generation capacity when he is elected as president. Nigeria is not a poor country. We will generate more revenue without hurting the people. He did it in Lagos without over-taxing the people. He will do it again when he gets there. There are so many sources of taxation that are not going into the government’s coffers. He will block the loopholes. Hopefully, by next week, we would have done the breakdown of our manifestoes. Prof Oserheimen Osunbor is the Coordinator of the manifesto committee. I recently watched Atiku speaking about the Mambila power project. They started the project under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo who would have done it with $6 billion and he was in charge. What did they achieve? Where did he get money to acquire his sprawling property in Dubai? He will answer questions. Ask Tinubu about the source of his money, he will tell you how he made his money. Apart from being a retired Customs officer and the head of privatization, what else has he done? The privatization he did is why we are now in darkness. We are confident of victory, but we don’t want to be lethargic. When it’s time to talk, we will talk. Thank God, there is enough time. They are kicking off their campaigns in Akwa Ibom State on October 10; we are starting our own on the 12th in Kano.
You know that the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) is also making waves in Kano and other states in the North?
(Cuts in)… Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has his own followership; there is no doubt about it. But he can’t square up with us. We are going to his territory next week to start our campaign, you will see the difference. Although no good politician will underrate another politician, he cannot scare us. Our case is going to be like Amusan who had long prepared herself for athlete competition before she went for the world event and eventually emerged as the champion.
A lot of people believe that NNPP is in control of Kano State. Are you going there to start your campaign to prove that APC is fully in charge in that state?
There is a strategic reason why we are starting the campaign in Kano. It is not because Kwankwaso is there. We are expecting a large vote in Kano, which is why we are starting off from there. With our candidate and his running mate, this election is sure for APC by God’s grace. Bishop Onayeikan has said that the same faith ticket is not hatred for the Christians, but political mathematics.