Why Buhari chose 10 states to join Tinubu’s campaign

Former Organising Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Prof Ussiju Medaner has explained the reason President Muhammadu Buhari opted to join Bola Tinubu’s campaign only in 10 states.

Since President Buhari joined his party’s presidential campaign flag-off on Tuesday, November 15, 2022, in Plateau state, the president has stayed away from the presidential rallies of his party.

This gave room to insinuations that the president has little or no commitment to the Bola Tinubu-Kashim Shettima presidential ticket of the APC.

But the presidency announced in a statement on Friday, January 6, 2023, that Buhari did not want to abandon his primary job as the leader of the country, adding that the president had agreed to campaign for Tinubu in 10 states.

The states are: Yobe, Sokoto, Kwara, Ogun, Adamawa, Cross River, Nasarawa, Katsina Imo, and Lagos State.

Explaining why the President picked the 10 states, Medaner during an interview on Arise TV on Monday, January 9, 2022, said the president chose the states to look at what has been done and what needs to be done for the people of the state.

Medaner explained that the APC presidential campaign was already taken shape but the party still needs to look at its strengths and the states where its campaigns need to be intensified.

He said, “You know the president has given a directive to the FEC members about the campaign. If you look at it, I think it’s a strategy for the campaign to take shape. Right now, the campaign has taken shape and governance has not suffered.

“Talking about adding value to the campaign, you should remember that the president right from 2003 to 2019 still has that value, he still that those supports intact. It’s to consolidate what has been gained. If you look at it horizontally and vertically, the campaign is taking shape and it’s gone very far.

“And if you take the 10 states he has chosen to go, you know in politics, if you have to look at the numbers, your strength, you have to look at where you have to augment. I think the president choosing those states is to go and look at what has been done in those states and look at what should be done again to the people.”

He further explained that the campaign has been segmented and has gone back to zones.

While Tinubu’s campaign train go to state capitals, the APC chieftain said that the APC Vice Presidential candidate, Kashim Shettima takes the party’s campaign to communities to get in touch with those that matter.