From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
All roads will today, finally lead to Jos, the Plateau State capital, venue of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign flag-off for the 2023 presidential election.
The event will mark the commencement of the final lap in the crucial journey to actualise the dream of the APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, occupying the exalted seat at the Aso Rock Villa.
The flag-off marks the endless wait for the ruling party to roll out the drums to start the campaign more than one month after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officially lifted the ban on political campaigns for next year’s presidential and National Assembly elections.
It will finally kick-off after several months of planning, brainstorming, networking, deliberation, horse-trading, lobbying including the politics of picking the venue with attendant financial implications.
And regardless of the defence the ruling party and the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) may have put up as the reason for the delay in commencing the campaign, the startling reality is that the flag-off is coming after overcoming the initial myriad of hostilities that previously confronted them.
Such challenges, already in the public domain, include the controversy over the composition of members of the PCC, the rift between the party’s national leadership and its candidate over sundry issues. There were also the issues of packaging, appraisal and launch of Tinubu’s manifesto.
Others include the strenuous effort to douse the tension that trailed the obnoxious choice of Muslim-Muslim joint presidential ticket, streamlining the source of campaign funding and more importantly the lobby and pacification of the aggrieved members of the ruling party, especially the presidential aspirants.
Only last month, PCC spokesperson, Festus Keyamo, had while labouring to defend the delay in the ruling party kick-starting the campaign, hinged it on accommodating the diary of President Muhammadu Buhari, who, understandably, is the chairman of the campaign council.
Keyamo had claimed that: “the structure of our campaign involves the Presidential diary. I have also said that our campaign is not going to be like those that they can kick and start like small vehicles. It is like manoeuvring a 50-ton tanker on an express highway. But, 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 to flag off our campaign. However, we have all collectively 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,” he explained, adding; “we are not bothered by PDP starting its campaign. APC will allow the little boys to continue, while the big boys will come behind.”
Perhaps, now that they have completed the manoeuvring of the 50-ton tanker on an express highway and baring last minute change in plans, the Eagle will now land in Jos tomorrow, Tuesday, for the much-anticipated flag-off of the campaign rally that will enable the ruling party to sell the manifesto of its candidate to the Nigerian electorate.
Good enough, the build-up activities, preceding the flag-off, contained in the PCC calendar, have been religiously followed with several town hall meetings with the business community and captains of industries in both Kano and Lagos states.
Equally successfully executed include the fruitful interactive town hall meetings with the major stakeholders in the agricultural and mining sectors in both Niger and Nasarawa states and the dinner with the leadership of the PCC and other stakeholders in Abuja.
With such seamless and hitch-free build-up with little or no room for any negativity and errors so far, the flag-off in Jos will, expectedly, be a top-notch, near-perfectly arranged carnival of sort.
Although the ruling party boldly gambled in flagging off the 2019 presidential campaign at literally the enemy territory in Akwa-Ibom, the state of the opposition party, the choice of Jos to flag off the campaign for next year’s poll, according to the PCC, is curiously to honour the Director General of the PCC and state governor.
Defending the choice of Jos against two other venues like Kwara and Katsina states penciled down to host the flag-off, the Director of Publicity of the PCC, Bayo Onanuga told Daily Sun in a chat that; “we opted for Jos because it is the home of the DG campaign council.”
He said: “We considered three states to host the flag-off. They are Kwara, Katsina and Plateau. But lots of opinions favoured Jos as a mark of honour for our DG. Good enough that Governor Lalong and his team are so happy that we gave him that honour.
“Don’t also forget that Jos is the microcosm of Nigeria. It is also the melting point of the major cities in the country. Jos represents the home of all the major tribes in the country. The state houses all the multi-ethnic tribes, the Igbo, Hausa, and Yoruba nationalities and taking our message there will resonate across the country. “We did not consider Lagos because it will likely be the state to host the final day rally as the home state of the presidential candidate,” he explained.
While giving insight into what Nigerians will expect during the flag-off, Onanuga noted that; “the rally is going to be a festival of sort for the party, the candidates, the members and the supporters. It will be a celebration of fun and message.
“We are going to convey the messages encapsulated in our manifesto and action plan. We want to give the people assurances that the best of the party is yet to come.
“We want to assure and reassure them that we are going to improve on the performances of President Buhari. We have promises of much better things and a better future, especially development under the Asiwaju/Shettima administration. It is really going to be a combination of message and carnival; there will be no dull moment. There is going to be music, enough singing and dancing, and uniforms to brand the rally. I assure you that there will be glamour in Jos during the flag-off,” Onanuga promised.
But beyond the razzmatazz and glitz of the flag-off, certain endemic challenges like security threats, and the absence of the aggrieved presidential aspirants, perhaps in confirmation of their positions not to identify with campaign activities of the ruling party may constitute serious cog to the event.
Miffed by the increasing spate of attacks at campaign rallies, INEC had only last week summoned an emergency meeting of the security agencies under the auspices of Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), to tackle the menace.
Condemning the attacks at the campaigns, INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, had pleaded with the security agencies to take decisive steps to stem the ugly trend from further escalation, stressing: “the spate of physical attacks during the ongoing political campaigns and rallies is too much. The commission has so far tracked 50 incidents across 21 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
“These unhappy occurrences are coming just a little over one month into the election campaign which is scheduled to last for about five months for national elections (Presidential and National Assembly) and for state elections (governorship and Houses of Assembly).
“The commission is worried that if no urgent and decisive steps are taken, the attacks will intensify as we approach the election date. As we all know, a peaceful campaign heralds a peaceful election. We need to take decisive steps to stem the ugly trend.
“As a body, ICCES brings together security, safety and other agencies responsible for securing the process and ensuring peaceful elections in Nigeria. Understandably, Nigerians expect decisive action from ICCES. It is important that we move swiftly to apprehend perpetrators, prosecute them as required by law and reinforce security around election officials and electoral infrastructure around the country,” he appealed.
To match words with actions, assurances and practicable measures have come from both the leadership of the security agencies and the PCC, to douse fears of any possible attack during the Jos flag-off.
Responding proactively, ICCES in a communiqué signed by National Commissioner and Chairman, Security Committee of INEC, Maj. Gen. Modibbo A. Alkali (rtd) and issued after the meeting, resolved to upscale security around campaign venues in addition to summoning the leaderships of the political parties and their candidates.
“Similarly troubling is the rising incidents of attacks on supporters and facilities of political parties, ostensibly by political opponents, so soon into the five-month period for campaign rallies, processions and meetings as provided in the INEC timetable and schedule of activities for the 2023 general election.
“Following extensive reports, reviews and deliberations, the meeting resolved that security agencies will upscale intelligence gathering, sharing and utilisation of the same to stem further sabotage.
“In addition to the measures already taken for the arrest and prosecution of offenders, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), as head of the lead agency in internal security, shall convene a meeting of all political parties, candidates and other critical stakeholders to reiterate the imperative of peaceful campaign and to convey the enforcement measures to be taken against violators.
“Decisive lawful action shall be taken against purveyors of hate speech, incitement to violence, mobilisation of thugs and other violations, including the prompt arrest, investigation and prosecution of offenders in line with the provisions of Sections 92 and 93 of the Electoral Act 2022. Those already arrested will face prosecution immediately,” the communiqué read.
Messages of reassurance to the supporters and other attendees of top-notch security and logistics arrangements for the flag-off came from PCC Publicity director, Onanuga.
He declared: “we are not entertaining any fear about the security breach. The Local Organising Committee in collaboration with the Events and Protocol sub-committee of the PCC will handle the arrangements to ensure that the rally is secured and the people coming across all parts of the country will not be harmed.
“As for the logistics, judging by the activities during the town hall meetings, what we do is for the sitting governor of the state where APC is in charge to handle all the logistics. All the visitors will only be the guests of the governor.
“Let me also assure our teaming supporters and Nigerians that President Buhari will personally flag off the campaign rally in Jos. You know that he is the chairman of the campaign council. He is definitely going to be there in Jos to flag off the rally. He will be due back in the country by the latest on Monday. He is going to address the rally in a special way.
“As for the presidential aspirants, it is not true that the presidential aspirants have not really integrated into our campaign activities. I will take it as a speculation and rumour. The fact that you won’t see them at a rally does not mean they are not part of the activity.
“They usually have one reason or the other not to be there. I can assure you that the candidate and the aspirants have been talking and have been integrated into the party,” he insisted.
But, beyond the assurances of securing the rally, incidents like putting on pragmatic measures to settle hired supporters should be perfected and delivered with dispatch.
More importantly, there are growing concerns and anxieties over the ability and physical fitness of the APC presidential candidate to meet up with the rigours of campaign activities, considering his speculated health challenges, especially after failing to visit Delta and Kogi states as scheduled last week over yet-to-be explained reasons.
If mobilisation of crowd of supporters will be the reliable yardstick to measure the popularity of the APC candidate, assurances have come from the senator representing Plateau South Senatorial District, Prof. Nora Ladi Dadu’ut, of a massive crowd receiving him and his entourage.
“As a member of the Women Presidential Campaign Team, I call on the people of the state to come out en mass to support our presidential candidate as well as vote massively for him at the polls. There is no politician in this country that has recorded the feat Tinubu has recorded in politics.
“He is the only politician in Nigeria that has mentored the highest number of politicians and placed them in strategic positions. He is a builder of men and resources,” she said.
However, thinking beyond the carnival, many political watchers have expressed concerns about the quality of messages and mode of delivery by the concerned protagonists, especially making unguarded utterances and hate speeches.
Therefore, calculated efforts should be made for speakers like the presidential and vice presidential candidates to live up to their promises of engaging in issue-based campaigns and curtailing the abusive jokes they usually throw at the candidates of other political parties.