Minister of State for Labour and Spokesman for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, bares his mind to ADEBAYO FOLORUNSHO-FRANCIS on the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu’s chances against Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party in the North, why the PDP shouldn’t be returning to Aso Rock and the allegations trailing the APC in the wake of the Presidential Campaign Committee inauguration
Why was the women’s campaign team inaugurated before the main presidential council?
We made a conscious decision that this campaign would be driven more by women. That’s also because we are conscious of the importance of women in politics because they are more committed, loyal, and the best mobilisers when it comes to campaigning. Whoever doesn’t discover that early is headed for doom. We also know for a fact that women are hardly disloyal, unlike when we have flip-flops on the part of men. That is reflected in the kind of passion you saw on the day the women’s wing was inaugurated at the State House.
So, we thought the women should be given pride of place and inaugurated first. We didn’t want to bury them inside the structure of a male-dominated campaign council.
Besides, this has always been the tradition of the APC. We did that in 2015 and 2019 if you remember. The only difference is that we just decided to inaugurate them ahead of others this year.
Isn’t it ironic that the ruling APC is banking on women when the opposition, including the Labour Party, is looking at youth strength?
It is women and young people if you ask me. There is actually a directorate carved out for youths in the campaign council headed by the governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello. He is the director of youth mobilisation across the country. So, it is not just all about women alone. The youths are also given priority.
Some disgruntled PCC nominees, particularly CAN members accused APC of sneaking them into the campaign list without their knowledge. How will you react to this?
I don’t know how many people you claimed made the allegation. But we can only say that you cannot compile the names of more than 2,000 people without one or two glitches. It happened at other parties too.
But in the case of those people you said were added without their consent, it may just be a matter of misunderstanding. Some people may express strong support for the party privately but may not want their names out there in the public. But those recommending them may not know and just decide to include their names to surprise them, whereas, in reality, the people may not want it. This is how it works at times. These are the things that happen at times with a communication breakdown. But I am not saying that this is possibly what happened in this case.
What were the criteria used in selecting PCC members? Was it down to credentials, pedigree or electoral value?
Of course, it is based on their membership in the party. Some of these people were recommended. All those people you see on the campaign list were not picked centrally; they were recommended at different levels of the party.
Can you explain why Chris Ngige, Rauf Aregbesola and Orji Kalu, who earlier made the 422-man team, were dropped from the fresh list?
I don’t need to answer this. A clause stated that all former governors were part of the campaign team. So, there may be no need to mention their names one after the other. If you study the campaign list, you will see the particular line that addressed that issue. It was boldly written there.
What about the embattled PDP senator, Chimaroke Nnamani? Was his exclusion a result of the outrage that greeted his earlier inclusion?
I have no information to give on that. I have not been mandated to speak about it.
Why do you dread seeing the PDP in power again?
I think Nigerians have seen enough of them. You saw how the PDP national chairman (Iyorchia Ayu) mounted the podium during their campaign, promising Nigerians heaven and earth. And this is a man who could not keep just one small promise in his own party. As far as we can see, the PDP people are not saying anything new in their campaign. All they keep saying are things we are tired of hearing. I don’t think they have anything new to tell Nigerians who have seen the kind of treachery going on in the party. And these are the people we want to hand power over to again? Nigerians are wiser.
Time heals, they say. Why are you adamant that PDP can’t bring anything novel to the table after eight years?
No, I don’t think so. Nigerians know them very well. We have seen all they can offer. There is no trick in the book that the PDP can pull out again for Nigerians. PDP is not attracting anybody again. They are just a conservative old party. I know they have lost a lot of supporters between 2019 and now largely to the “Obidient” movement. Obi is seriously eating into their stronghold and they are very angry with him. In fact, we are encouraging Obi as a third force.
But the PDP candidate, Atiku seems very calm and unperturbed. Are you not worried about his body language?
What do you expect? He is an old war horse. This is about his sixth attempt, and he is no longer excited about it. And I think there is a sense of loss around him too. He understands the problem he is facing at home. About five governors have pulled out of his campaign. It was the same magic number in 2015. Remember the five governors’ drama we had? Between 2019 and now, the PDP has lost ground. They have lost to Obi and Kwankwaso, a major factor in the South and another one in the North. What exactly do you think the APC has lost since 2019? We gained. The only place we lost was Edo State, which was replaced immediately by Cross River. It is a case of plus and minus. We gained the governor of Imo and won Ebonyi. We also gained Zamfara in the North-West. We are making up ground but the PDP lost massively. Apart from the major factors they lost in the north and south, they also lost followers.
What makes you think the North will dump a northerner like Atiku for Tinubu?
For the second time in Nigeria’s history, we will see our brothers’ fidelity and trustworthiness in the North. They have shown it in the case of MKO Abiola. Did you remember that Abiola defeated Tofa in Kano? Who were the forces that worked against him at that time? This same Asiwaju was a member of the then-SDP. They were the same people who worked for that Abiola ticket. Now, the second and most important thing I want you to know is that we have two major factors to put on the table. The first one is the commitment of the governors who control the North. We have 14 out of 19 governors if I’m correct. The only ones we don’t have control over are Taraba, Benue, Sokoto, Bauchi, and Adamawa. We have the commitment of our governors who said the ticket should be returned to the South. They took this decision at a time when they could have taken the ticket on a platter of gold. Their reaction was swift because they wanted to reunite the country.
The second factor is the big masquerade – President Buhari – who will take Asiwaju’s hand to say, “This is the anointed one.” Does Buhari look like a dubious man? He is a soldier and campaign chairman for the APC. Those are the factors we are campaigning and banking on.
What’s the update on your Tinubu’s romance with Wike?
Do you have any proof that there is one? The truth is that I cannot confirm or deny anything concerning our party and Wike. As a political party, in the generic sense of the word, our doors are always open for more people to come in. After all, politics is all about numbers.
Now that the presidential campaign council and Tinubu’s Action Plan have been unveiled, when and where exactly is the APC campaign kicking off?
There is no clear statement, especially on the region we are using yet. We will determine the campaign kick-off and venue next week. I made this analogy somewhere that our party is like a 50-tonne trailer that you want to manoeuvre onto the highway. It is not the same thing as all these small cars that you will just kick and go. To manoeuvre a 50-tonne trailer onto the highway, you must warm the engine well to make sure the brake is effective. This is because if it gets onto the highway, it cannot be stopped because it is a big machine. That is how you liken it to the APC.
This is the largest party with the most entrenched interests, far more than the PDP, because, of course, we are the ruling party and we have at the apex a sitting president, who also has different commitments and a presidential diary he must look at. The presidential diary, for those who know what it is, can be filled up from now till January. Seeing the president is not easy, let alone scheduling an appointment. And the fact that you want to schedule a hectic campaign activity into that diary is something else entirely. Aside from that, we have other interests from governors, stakeholders, the leadership of the party, NWC and all that. We are synchronising all of these to ensure that once the campaign takes off, it becomes seamless without rancour.
Why is the APC finding it difficult to reunite Osinbajo with his godfather?
Who is saying they are disunited? It is only by your (media) calculation. (Vice President Yemi) Osinbajo is like a very big brother to me. I have massive respect for him within the party. He may have lost the primary but that does not reduce any single strand of respect. I can tell you that.
Do you see him campaigning for Tinubu ahead of the 2023 election?
For now, he may not. I want you to take that as the gospel truth. The president himself said, ‘Look, don’t be part of the campaign council. Sit back and face governance for now.’ That’s what the president said.
