APGA Plans 3,000 Member Campaign Council

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has said it would soon constitute a 3,000 member national campaign council for the 2023 general election.

It applauded President Muhammadu Buhari’s injunction to the Police and election officials to maintain neutrality before, during and after the election.
National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Oye who disclosed this in an interview with THISDAY in Abuja, said the leadership of the party would soon inaugurate its national campaign council made up 3,000 prominent party members.

Oye said APGA was focused and committed to free, fair elections.
“We are also committed to non-violent approach to electioneering campaign. We are going to launch our campaign very soon.
“The party has composed the campaign council with over 3,000 and the presidential candidate will announce that very soon and after that we will commence campaign,” he said.

Oye also gave undertaken that his party would be guided by the tenets of the peace accord to run a non-violent political campaign for the 2023 general election.
“We are not looking at other parties in what we are doing. We are running a different programme altogether. We have carved a niche for ourselves as a political party and we have cautioned our candidates to shun violence and all forms brigandage.

“It’s a pity that in our society today people resort to violence to achieve their selfish desires. APGA is committed to ensuring that there is a level play field in our polity.
“We may not be as big as the two political parties but we have what PDP and APC don’t have and that is integrity. We have experience and vision to change the way things were done in this country.

“We appeal to Nigerians to play the game according to the rules. Our message to Nigerians as we prepare for the 2023 general elections is that they should be careful in their choice of candidates to vote for.

“They should elect men and women of character and people that will give them unnecessary headache the way things were being done today,” Oye said.
According to Oye, the prayer of the party was that the country should survive the present travails.  

He promised that an APGA government in 2023 was going to change the way Nigeria was run.
“We have the key and solutions to the country’s overall problem. As far as APGA was concerned, Nigeria has just one central problem and that is leadership – emphatic leadership, a leadership that is not selfish.

“We are focusing on giving Nigerians the best in leadership in 2023 and if Nigerians want good leadership in 2023, they should vote for APGA,” he said.
Speaking on the charge by President Muhammadu Buhari for the police and election officials to be neutral and apolitical during the 2023 election, Oye described it as a welcome move.

Oye said: “Some people may not like him for personal reasons but in terms of strictness and adherence to principles, give it to him. I have followed him and all he says, he has done.
“You can see that see that since Buhari came on board, conduct of elections have taken a different turn. We have had series of smooth, non-violent elections.”
Oye cited elections in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states as good examples of Buhari’s legacy of free and fair elections.

He praised the president’s courage in signing the amended Electoral Act into law.

Oye also enjoined the president not to renege on his promise to ensure credible election in 2023 as Nigerians are trusting him to deliver.

“Buhari had made promises in the past has fulfilled so I am confident that he will deliver free and fair election as promised come 2023,” he said.