APGA Plans 3,000 Member Campaign Council
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has said it will soon constitute a 3,000 member national campaign council for the 2023 general election.
The party applauded President Muhammadu Buhari’s injunction to the police and election officials to maintain neutrality before, during and after the election.
The National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Oye, who disclosed this during 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 is focused and committed to free, fair election, adding that: “We are also committed to non-violent approach to electioneering.
“We are going to launch our campaign very soon. The party has composed the campaign council with over 3,000 and presidential candidate will announce that very soon, and after that we will commence campaigns.”
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.
According to him, “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 playing 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 election is that they should be careful in their choice of candidates to vote for.
“They should elect men and women of character and not people that will give them unnecessary headache the way things were being done today.”
Speaking on the charge by President Buhari to the police and election officials to be neutral and apolitical during the 2023 election, Oye described it as a welcome move.
He 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 since Buhari came on board, the conduct of elections has taken a different turn. We have had series of smooth, non-violent elections,” citing elections in Anambra, Ekiti and Odin States as good examples of Buhari’s legacy of free and fair elections.
