President Muhammadu Buhari is now set to fully participate in the last lap of the presidential campaign of his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) having flagged off the electioneering in Jos, Plateau state in November, 2022.

Director of Public Affairs and Chief Spokesperson, Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo SAN announced this in a statement accompanying the party’s revised campaign schedule issued on Friday, January 6, 2022, in Abuja.

Keyamo who is also the Minister of State, Labour and Employment, said the president is billed to lead the campaign train in at least 10 States of the Federation while also attending the grand finale in Lagos.

He said; “The Presidential Campaign Council of the All-Progressives Congress announces that in its revised Campaign Timetable just released, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has shown further personal commitment to the cause of the All-Progressives Congress and its Presidential flag-bearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the 2023 Presidential election, by indicating his readiness to be physically present at some of our forthcoming presidential campaign rallies.

“Recall that Mr. President, out of his very busy schedule, had earlier attended the flag-off of the Presidential Campaign in Jos on the 15th of November, 2022. This was also after graciously accepting to be the Chairman of the Presidential Campaign Council of the ruling party.

“In the latest Campaign Time Table released yesterday (5th January, 2023) the President is billed to join the Campaign Train in at least ten States. The States are Adamawa State on the 9th of January; Yobe State on the 10th of January; Sokoto State on the 16th of January; Kwara State on the 17th of January; Ogun State on the 25th of January; Cross Rivers State on the 30th of January; Nassarawa State on the 4th of February; Katsina State on the 6th of February; Imo State on the 14th of February and the Grand Finale in Lagos State on the 18th of February.

“The PCC expresses its profound gratitude to President Buhari, the leader of our great Party, for his sterling and inspirational leadership at this time and for galvanising our teeming members and supporters across the country.

“We urge our party faithful and supporters to turn out en masse, as usual, in the forthcoming campaign rallies. The zero hour is nigh; our spirits must be high; we must not relent in this our collective march to our victory that is divinely ordained”.

There had been concerns within political circles about the absence of President Buhari from the activities of the APC Presidential Campaign Council PCC as its candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu moved from one state to the other, meeting various groups and selling his manifesto to Nigerians.

Meanwhile, governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State has said the construction of the Second Niger Bridge by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is enough for the Igbos to vote for the presidential candidate of the All-Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.

Speaking during an interview on a monitored progamme, Uzodinma said the South-East geopolitical zone will vote for Tinubu for the continuation of Buhari’s legacies.

The governor stated that the programmes and manifesto of the ruling party has convinced and endeared the people of the South East region to the APC, saying that he is very confident that the party will win the 2023 general elections.

He said: “Senator Bola Tinubu is the presidential candidate of the APC, the party in power. From 1970 when the civil war ended, the Igbos asked for the Second Niger Bridge, government after government came with promises that was not fulfilled.

“The last Christmas was greeted with jubilation; Igbos coming from outside the South-East using the Second Niger Bridge. That is even enough for the whole Igbos to vote for Buhari’s legacy to continue.

“It is not about whether Bola Tinubu is from the same place with me; it is about the programmes, to the extent that the manifesto of our great party has convinced and endeared the people. I’m very confident that the party to beat in Nigeria is the APC.”

Uzodinma, who is the coordinator for Tinubu’s campaign in the South-East, also said most of the federal roads in the zone have received sufficient attention and budgetary commission and commuters no longer suffer as they use to before.

The governor added that he is running a unified campaign for all APC candidates in the South-East, expressing confidence that all the party’s candidates from the governorship, House of Assembly, House of Representatives to Senate seats will be elected.

Intelregion/Cynthia Akere