The All Progressives Congress National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has taken full leadership of the party’s presidential and re-election campaigns ahead of the February polls, while President Muhammadu Buhari takes the back seat.
Buhari is the Chairman of the Presidential Campaign Council, while Tinubu is the Co-Chairman.
But, speaking while inaugurating the campaign council in Abuja on Monday, Buhari handed over the role of leading the campaigns to Tinubu on the excuse that he did not want the country’s governance to suffer because of election campaigns.
He explained that much as he would be involved in the campaigns in the next 40 days, it was Tinubu who would be fully in charge and must keep a 24-hour vigil to ensure the success of the campaigns.
Buhari also ignored the latest audio recording of the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, which criticised the President for being slow and a man who didn’t read or cared about the hunger in the land by saying the Director-General (Amaechi) would take charge of field operations and the overall planning of his campaigns.
The President stated, “To my mind, the division of responsibility is clear enough. The leadership that has formulated the campaign policy will supervise its execution; the Director-General will have overall responsibility for all aspects of the campaign, including field operations; while the Secretary will be responsible for all administrative and treasury-related activities of the council.
“Even though we have only 40 days, this campaign is going to tax us all, because we intend to touch all corners of our great and vast country.
“But I must also add that, though we will all be deeply involved, I would like to assure the nation that I will do my part without making governance or my work suffer. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, my co-chairman, will be fully in charge and is going to be on 24-hour vigil.
“That is to say, the operational buck of this campaign stops at his table and I therefore urge all of us in the leadership of this campaign, in the field operations on the campaign trail and in the secretariat to consult with Asiwaju whenever guidance is needed.”
Buhari, who expressed his appreciation to the APC for the unanimous nomination to seek a second term, urged the members to resist the temptation to be provoked by the opposition.