El-Rufai: APC Still Consulting over Presidential Campaign Council

•Keyamo may emerge spokesperson

Adedayo Akinwale

Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, yesterday, said the All Progressives Congress (APC) was yet to constitute its presidential campaign council, because it was still consulting, especially, with critical stakeholders of the party.

El-Rufai hinted at this yesterday, when the governors of the party met with their presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, to keep him up to speed with developments, since he handed them the assignment.

This is as indications have emerged that the Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, Festus Keyamo, might have been tipped as the likely spokesperson of the campaign council, all things being equal. If he is eventually announced as the spokesperson of the Tinubu Campaign Council, it would be the second he would playing that role. In 2019, he was appointed Spokesman of Buhari Presidential Campaign and later emerged Minister of State for Labour and Productivity following Buhari’s re-election.

The Kaduna governor, who addressed the sitting of stakeholders, maintained that though the Director-General of the council, had been picked, the official unveiling and inauguration of the council was being stalled, because of the ongoing consultations.

According to El-Rufai, who had earlier been erroneously tipped as the likely campaign DG, “This is a delegation of the Progressive Governors Forum led by our Chairman, Dr Atiku Bagudu and the Party represented by the National Secretary.

“We came to report on an assignment given to us by our Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and his running mate to begin the broad consultations and develop a structure for the presidential campaign council.

“We have done some work on it. We have briefed the candidate and his running mate and inputs have been taken and our hope is that in the shortest possible time, the candidate will consult more with the party leadership and brief Mr President and get his input and then we formally unveil the presidential campaign council.

“A decision has been taken on the Director General but other positions in the campaign council are still being discussed. The president and the National Chairman and National Working Committee will be briefed before a formal announcement,” he added

Those at the meeting were the presidential candidate of the APC and his running mate, Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima; Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu; Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje and the Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle.

Others were the Jigawa State Governor, Abubakar Badaru; Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole; National Secretary of APC, senator Iyiola Omisore and Tinubu’s former vice-presidential placeholder, Alhaji Kabiru Masari.