• Yilwatda: APGA, PDP, Accord to join APC in president’s re-election bid
•Says ruling party ready for campaign flag-off Saturday in Kaduna
Deji Elumoye in Abuja
Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, has declared that the ruling party was ready to embark on issue-based campaign based on the achievements of the President Bola Tinubu-led government rather than exchanging personal attacks with opposition candidates.
The former Governor of Zamfara State, who spoke with newsmen on Tuesday after meeting with President Tinubu in the company of the National Chairman of the party, Prof Nentawe Yilwatda, said the campaign council had resolved to focus on the record of the APC-led Federal Government and present its accomplishments to Nigerians as the basis for seeking another mandate in the January, 2027 presidential poll.
Yari maintained that APC would avoid insults and name-calling, insisting that its campaign would be driven by evidence of government performance and the argument for continuity.
His words: “As a Council, what we say we are going to do? We are going to do a campaign with the records. A responsible campaign, no insults, no calling of names because there’s no name before us, but we have a record before us to show to Nigerians”.
The Senator explained that the campaign would provide an opportunity for the party to engage Nigerians on the policies and programmes implemented under the Tinubu administration and make the case for their continuation.
According to him: “This is what our party did, this what our government did, so because of that, we are asking, pleading Nigerians to look at this record carefully so that they give us a second chance for continuity”.
Also speaking, APC National Chairman,
Professor Yilwatda, disclosed that major opposition parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Accord Party, are ready to work with the ruling party’s campaign for President Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
Yilwatda, who said the development demonstrated the growing political support for the President, explained that the APC had completed preparations for the formal launch of its nationwide presidential campaign next Saturday, October 24 in Kaduna.
According to him, the ruling party has attracted support from political parties that previously defeated the APC in elections, which is evidence of the broadening political alignment around the President.
Said he: “If you look at what the party is doing now, the oppositions are with us. All political parties that have defeated us in any election are all with us; PDP is with us, APGA is with us, Accord Party with us. These are the only political parties that have defeated us, except APM, and they are all with us in this campaign.
“It shows that the entire Nigerian political cycle is Mr. President, and that’s what we’re doing now to ensure that we prepare for this grand flag off in Kaduna”.
He, however, was not specific if the claimed support represented formal endorsements by the national leadership of the three opposition parties or political alliances involving individual members and groups within them.
Yilwatda expressed satisfaction with the level of preparations for the Kaduna campaign launch, saying the party’s leadership, campaign committees and state structures were fully mobilised for the exercise.
The party chairman explained that his meeting alongside Yari with the President was intended to provide an update on arrangements for the event and the readiness of the campaign organisation to commence activities across the country.
“We’ll flag-off the campaign on Saturday, 24th of October, and as you can see, we’re together with the DG to brief Mr. President on the preparation for the flag off.
“For now, everything is set; the preparation is on, the members are motivated, the states, the committees are ready, and everything that is supposed to be done has been done”.