Romanus Ugwu

The national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that the appointment of human right activist and lawyer, Festus Keyamo, as the spokesperson for the President Muhammadu Buhari campaign organization is not an affair of the ruling party at this stage.

APC National Publicity Secretary Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, reacting to the appointment, argued that since other aspirants would be contesting for the position, the setting up of campaign committee by an aspirant for the election does not involve the party.

Stressing that the party, as an unbiased umpire, will remain fair and just to other aspirants, saying:

“The reality is that what happened at this stage of the build up to the 2019 Presidential election does not involve the party.

“Yes, President Buhari has declared, but there will be others that may likely contest for the same position. The appointment of Keyamo by Buhari campaign organisation is not an APC affair at this stage. It is just like another aspirant under the APC platform setting up campaign structure by appointing some other persons.

“Whoever that is appointed now is regarded as an action from one of our aspirants. As an unbiased umpire, the party is expected to be fair to all the aspirants contesting under our party platform. It is only when Buhari finally emerges as the APC presidential candidate that any appointment becomes an affair of the party,” he argued.

Earlier Tuesday it was reported that Keyamo had been appointed Director, Strategic Communications for the President’s 2019 re-election campaign, effectively making him ‘Official Spokesperson’.

A letter informing the lawyer of the appointment was signed by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, also the Director-General, of the Buhari Campaign Organisation.

Keyamo had tweeted out a copy of the appointment letter on his Twitter account, saying he would be “making a formal statement on this much later.”