‘Buhari too busy to attend all Tinubu’s campaigns’

The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has said that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), is too busy to attend all the election campaigns of the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.

A member of the Public Affairs Directorate APC PCC, Mariya Ibrahim Baba, said this on Friday, while fielding questions during an interview on Arise Television’s Morning Show programme.

The PCC member said the president had marked out places he would accompany Tinubu for campaigns, adding that it would not be wise for him (Buhari) to abandon all his duties as president to go about campaigning.

She however revealed that the president will be in Katsina very soon to campaign for Tinubu.

She said, “Buhari is still the president of Nigeria and he has work to do. If you notice he has outlined the places he will accompany the presidential candidate to campaign and he has been to other places even when we flagged off our campaign in Jos he was there and he’s going to be in Katsina very soon.

“But he is the sitting president and you don’t expect him  to leave office for the whole campaign period to go out to campaign when he has work to do. It doesn’t make sense.

“He has to divide his time into these two very important areas. As the president he has to attend to his duties too.

“He has accompanied our candidate and he will continue to accompany him until election day.”

Eyebrows had been raised as to why the President had been noticeably absent at most of the campaign rallies of the APC flag bearer with the main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party, mocking the ruling party.

The PUNCH reported that the Director, Strategic Communications of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Dele Momodu, had said the lack of quality in the campaigns by the APC  was the reason most chieftains of the ruling party including the President, were not campaigning for  Tinubu.

Momodu, who made the claim in a statement said, “It is obvious that the President, Muhammadu Buhari and many senior APC chieftains are palpably embarrassed about the quality of their presidential campaigns, which has been extremely lackluster.

“Their candidate has failed miserably to even sell his own manifesto. It has been one gaffe after the other.”

Also Kano-based elder statesman and human rights activist, Tanko Yakasai, had in a recent interview expressed doubt over Buhari’s support for Tinubu

Yakasai said, “What I realise is that I’m not sure if Buhari is happy with the candidature of Tinubu. That is the issue.

“He is in the APC because he is the President elected on the platform of the APC, but is he committed to Tinubu’s presidency? I have my doubt.”

Although the Presidency had since debunked Yakasai’s claim and knocked the elder statesman for “questioning the loyalty” of the President on his support for Tinubu, saying Yakasai’s recent comments about Buhari not throwing his weight behind the APC flag bearer conflicted with the President’s recent appearances in party campaign rallies.