The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Thursday, said it has devised a campaign strategy that would neutralise the influence of the presidential candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabi Kwankwaso, in the North West zone.
Director of Contact and Mobilisation for the North-west, Tinubu/Shettima PCC, Hon. Aminu Jaji, while inaugurating members of the committee in Abuja, said the region would determine the next President of Nigeria going by its voting strength.
He said it was time to pay back the presidential candidate of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the people of the South west for the way they stood by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 and 2019.
Jaji noted that having supported President Muhammadu Buhari in the last seven and a half years as president, the North-west must mobilise support and deliver victory for Tinubu/Shettima ticket in the forthcoming 2023 presidential election.
His words: “North-west has one of the most populated states in the country (Kano), which is currently under the APC and looking at the 2015 and 2019 elections results, APC will definitely coast to victory in 2023.
“The best thing that we can do in 2023 is to pay back to Tinubu, who has supported our son to be president twice. It is time to pay back what the other zones did for our son – a father and a role model – that is President Muhammadu Buhari. How the people from South-west stood their ground, supported him throughout, unconditionally.
“So, it is time to give some support to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu unconditionally, but with conditions that he is going to make Northern Nigeria, most especially great.”
Also speaking, the assistant secretary of the committee, Dr. Talatu Nasir, said despite the presidential candidate of NNPP coming from the region, it would not affect the electoral fortune of Tinubu.
Meanwhile, the Director, Directorate of Stakeholder Relations of the PCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has said opposition parties and their candidates should not be taken for granted, although Tinubu remained the best.
Speaking during the inauguration of the 132 members directorate yesterday in Abuja, he said Tinubu was far better than any of the presidential candidates of the opposition parties.
He said: “Luckily for us, our job is cut out for us. We have the most saleable product in the market today. There is no one candidate out there that is better than our own.
“Asiwaju Tinubu is an accomplished human being and a thorough bred administrator and maverick politician. He has something to show from his glowing antecedent, he will not learn on the job.
“He also has a wide network of friends and associates everywhere in Nigeria, which makes our job of outreach very much easier. Though this election is literally a walkover for us, we should not leave anything to chance.
“We should not under-rate our opponents. We should work assiduously to make the margin of winning too wide that the victory will be massive and sweet.”