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The All Progressives Congress (APC) has disclosed that the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu presidential campaign will officially kick off in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital in the North-Central region of the country.
How it happened: This was confirmed to The Punch by one of the party's bigwigs on Friday, October 14, 2022.
The unnamed source, who is also a Tinubu loyalists, was present at the tripartite meeting with the Progressive Governors Forum, Presidential Campaign Council and members of the APC National Working Committee on Wednesday, October 12, 2022.
The source added that the presidential candidate and the stakeholders agreed on North-Central and Ilorin specifically.
The Punch also reported that the closed-door meeting, which lasted for about three hours was attended by the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, who led the NWC; Tinubu’s running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima; Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, Atiku Bagudu; Deputy Director-General of the PCC, Adams Oshimhole; Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje; Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila among others.
Kwara has been chosen: The source revealed that Kwara state was chosen after a careful consideration and permutation by the stakeholders.
Source's word: “The candidate and the stakeholders deliberated consciously on the issue, considered all the odds before they finally agreed for the choice of North-Central in general and Ilorin specifically.
“It will be the starting point for our campaign before we spread into other areas. But the date has not been agreed."
Keyamo keeps mum: Meanwhile, the Spokesman for the Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, told journalists after the meeting that a 'region' had been selected to launch the campaign. He, however, refused to divulge the exact region.
While responding to queries on why the APC stakeholders and Tinubu were yet to agree on an appropriate date for both the campaign and PCC inauguration, the SAN confirmed that no date has been fixed.
He explained that the party was trying to play its card right by making conscious and calculative strategy to ensure no stone is left unturned.
Keyamo's word: “We have agreed on the region to begin the campaign but I am not going to say that now. We have also addressed all the basic issues because we want to carry the leaders of the party along
“For now, no date has been chosen (for PCC inauguration). But we will announce that sooner than you think.”
No official confirmation: When the paper contacted both Keyamo and the PCC Director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, on Friday to re-confirm if the campaign is truly launching from Kwara, they were reticent to either confirm or debunk the report.
Keyamo said, “We cannot confirm anything now. Though it is not a disclaimer, there is no official release on that.”
Onanuga’s position on the issue was also not different.
“Why don’t you wait? The party will announce it. I cannot confirm anything to you on this. You guys (media) should wait for us to unveil the manifesto and the PCC this week. That’s what we plan to do first,” he stated.
Tinubu getting busy: Pulse reports that the APC Presidential candidate has been up and running since his return to the country after a brief vacation in London.
In the last one week, Tinubu has been actively engaged in a series of consultations and midnight meetings with political associates.
His latest public outing was at the Central Mosque in Abuja where he observed Jumat prayer on Friday, October 14, 2022, before he left with another delegation to examine his campaign office.