Deputy Spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Hannatu Musawa, spoke with ADEBAYO FOLORUNSHO-FRANCIS on the preparedness of the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the delay in unveiling his manifesto and the ruling party’s strategy to win the 2023 elections
What effort is Tinubu taking to balance the ticket and quell the fear of all-Muslim political offices if he wins the 2023 presidential election?
It is a serious issue of concern even for us, which is why, as I earlier said, when the government, hopefully, of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima is constituted, there will be representations across the board in a way that will satisfy these agitations.
Most definitely, there won’t be a government where the number one, two, three, four, five and six are going to be Muslims, by no means. There will be representation not only for the Christian community but even across other religions.
The South East is going to be carried along. The same thing applies to the North Central region, where Christian leaders will also be carried along. And you can even see from the Constitution of our Presidential Campaign Council that the issue has been addressed to a very large extent. It has been addressed in a way that has not been witnessed by other parties. For instance, in the PDP, they have an issue where people are complaining that they have more Northerners at the helm of affairs. Yes, it is north-inclined, according to the party chairman, candidate, and campaign council spokespersons. They’re all from the North. But the APC has not done that.
Does that explain why Tinubu and the APC settled for Governor Simon Lalong as Chairman of the APC Campaign Council to pacify Christians?
Governor Lalong was not chosen because he was a Christian. He was selected because he had the capacity to assume that particular position. Thank God that he also happens to be a Christian. That satisfies the specific agitation. And even within that same campaign council, the spokesperson is from the South-South.
So, already, you can see APC is taking initiatives to ensure that, even within this small council that is put together, it is addressing some concerns to make sure that there is representation. I can assure you that by the time the government is constituted, there’s no way all the key positions are going to be taken by Muslims, or the key positions taken from a certain region. It is going to be a fair representation of Nigerians across the board.
What about Tinubu’s romance with Governor Nyesom Wike? Is he still keen on wooing him over to the APC ahead of the 2023 election?
I was on TV recently when they asked me this same question. I can’t confirm or deny it because nothing has been said to us officially. All that we hear about meetings with Wike are things that I pick up in the new media. There’s nothing from an official standpoint. This is a free country, and people have a right to meet with other people, even if it is for political reasons. It’s free to do horse-trading to try to enrich your campaign. And you know that someone like Governor Wike is very valuable, not just to the PDP, which appears to struggle to manage his whims and caprices. He is of value to anyone in the political space.
Where will Wike’s presence leave somebody like Amaechi? How do you hope to manage these two perennial foes?
First and foremost, former Governor Rotimi Amaechi is one of the most valuable members of the APC that we have. The APC will never forget his sacrifices and efforts in ensuring the APC’s election victory in 2015, as well as his two-term campaign council director. Amaechi is in no way going to be sidelined or disadvantaged. But these two men you mentioned are humans and Nigerians. At a point, they will put Nigeria ahead of any mixed feelings that they have. We do have a way of managing people because they’re men and reasonable human beings. And there’s nothing wrong with sitting down and having a dialogue, to find a way to accommodate both. You may recall that these men used to work as a team.
There’s nothing wrong with trying to recreate that again, especially when you have the leadership of someone like Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima, who have a way of managing people. I know that if Wike comes on board, hopefully, or if he adds value in another way even if he doesn’t come on board directly, it will be done in a way that is respectful to Amaechi and maintains his importance within our structure. We will manage both of them or anybody else because Nigeria is paramount in any consideration going forward.
How prepared is the APC candidate for the political campaign to face all manners of mudslinging and allegations that have dogged his personality in the past years?
We are very prepared because everything that’s going to be thrown at us has a response, and a valid, genuine, truthful answer. It is the political season, and it is expected that all sorts of mudslinging will be thrown at us. But we hope to focus more on the issues and not so much on the mudslinging because mudslinging is more about diverting attention elsewhere. What is important is for us to present the vision that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima have for Nigeria. That is what is going to be at the forefront of our campaign. Anything that’s going to come otherwise, we’re ready to take. I was in a couple of interviews recently. They’ve brought up issues, like you said, that have been regurgitated from 1999 or 2003.
But all these things have responses, and a lot of these issues have now become like urban legends. Because once rumours take flight, they spread like wildfire. It becomes like Chinese whispers—you know, over time, it grows. It becomes a beast. You now hear people talking about disparaging people’s age, about health and the source of wealth, and things like that. All of these things we are ready for because there are valid answers, truthful answers, and responses that we have.
Both Tinubu and Shettima are not men who focus on petty issues. They don’t have time to start talking about age or Boko Haram funding or things like that. You know a lot of these things are just tall tales that have been created on social media or as rumours, and they have become like urban legends.
Maybe it’s even good now in the political season that they will be brought up so that we have an opportunity on the national and international platform to address them head-on and answer them to a level that is very satisfactory in a way that everybody in the world will be able to understand we’re not even scared of any of these issues. We have valid, truthful responses to them.
It is rumoured that there is a cold war between Tinubu and Adamu and that there are talks that the National Working Committee is set to meet with the National Executive Council, which might determine Adamu’s fate. When is the NEC meeting?
Honestly, I’m glad that when you started this question, you said that it was alleged. I have been in the presence of these two gentlemen, in a personal and even official capacity, and honestly, I have not seen any friction.
I’m not sure what day the NEC meeting will hold but as I said again, I’m not aware of any plan to remove Adamu. I think as a party, we are not willing to upset the apple cart by removing Senator Abdullahi Adamu, especially given what we see happening in the People’s Democratic Party. Maybe that is the wish of some of the other parties.
Unveiling Tinubu’s manifesto seems to be taking forever. When is it coming out?
Our manifesto is really on its way. I had the privilege of sighting it recently. From day one, Tinubu already had his manifesto. Shettima already had his ideas, and it was just for them to try to look through them and see if they were able to apply them to the dynamic situation in Nigeria. They’re just tweaking it at the moment. We’ve just not made it public. The manifesto was there even before Asiwaju won the primary election.
For us, there’s no hurry to bring the campaign manifesto out now. Before the campaign starts, the manifesto will be available. Once the campaign starts, then we’ll be able to talk about the issues. We are quite confident that by the time you put our manifesto side by side with the manifestos of the other parties, the people will see the innovation that this patriot, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has for Nigeria and understand why it is important to support him to become president in 2023.
What about talks of Kwankwaso coming back to the APC? Are there ongoing talks?
If there have been any talks, it’s not in an official capacity. As I said before, APC has an open-door policy. Anybody who wants to come has a home in APC. We’ll be very happy to welcome Kwankwaso back into the fold because, at some point, he was with us. He is a man that has, as an individual, great electoral value. He has a movement across the whole nation, the Kwankwasiya movement.
If Senator Kwankwaso is to announce his return to APC, we will be very happy to welcome him back home, and he will have a home in APC in a way that would satisfy him and his followers to the best possible extent that we’d be able to do that. That would be able to cement APC’s grip on the north, even though I can only speak for the North West in the north. APC has a grip on the Northwest and the vast majority of the Northeast. If he fails to come, it also doesn’t affect APC in any way. We’ll still win the North.
Many say Buhari’s body language shows he is unwilling to campaign for APC. There is also a belief that once Buhari leaves, the North bloc dies with him. Won’t this serve as an advantage for the PDP?
Okay, you just raised two issues. The first is that I don’t know where this idea that President Buhari is not going to campaign for the APC came from because he said he was going to support APC members a couple of weeks ago. He has never said he was not going to campaign for APC. I’m quite confident that Buhari will campaign for the APC. APC is a part of his legacy, and he needs to be able to protect it.
In very many areas, the APC government has been able to record achievements. I can assure you that Buhari would want to maintain this, and this will happen if the APC government can take over from him. Now to your second question on bloc votes, maybe that’s true, and it could work to our advantage. The election happens before Buhari leaves.
Whatever the case may be, even though he’s going to leave next year, it’s not going to happen till after the election. He’s still in a position where he can bring in those bloc votes during the election. We hope to get his 12 million bloc votes, and then we’ll be able to build our own. We have Shettima’s votes, Asiwaju’s votes, and all the other people that are going to form part of his governance. We have the majority of the governors, who will come with their constituency votes.
