The All Progressives Congress on Wednesday night unveiled a new list to replace the previous 422-man list of the newly constituted Presidential Campaign Council.
There were, however, few surprises on the harmonised list which saw the National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, rose to number two on the campaign list right below the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), who retains his position as the Chairman of the PCC.
The development is coming after several weeks of denial of the ‘cold war’ and ‘rift’ between the Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and Adamu long before the previous list was released.
The PUNCH also reported a letter purportedly written by the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu, which went viral, accusing Tinubu of running a one-man show over the selection of members of the PCC, among others.
Adamu in the letter alleged that Tinubu deliberately sidelined the NWC in the composition of his presidential campaign council.
But hours after it went viral, the leadership of the APC distanced itself from the contentious letter.
A statement issued in Abuja by the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, stated that the letter did not emanate from the party.
The allegation came in the wake of the unveiling of a 422-man committee that comprised political heavyweights and other notable members to pilot the various sub-committees of the campaign council.
The list of members released by Secretary of the Presidential Campaign Council, James Faleke, in Abuja, following a series of postponements and conjectures about those who would be saddled with the task of leading the ruling party’s bid to retain power at the federal level.
The campaign council chaired by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has Tinubu and the APC national chairman, Adamu, as Deputy Chairman and Deputy Chairman II.
However, the harmonised campaign list released on Wednesday night by the National Secretary of the party, Senator Iyiola Omisore, saw Tinubu sacrifice his position for Adamu as Deputy Chairman and took up the Deputy Chairman II position.
A source within the PCC told our correspondent that the APC candidate chose to honour Adamu with the position to allow peace to reign.
“You know the cold war between them has always been there long before the APC presidential primary ended. Adamu is always suspicious of any move that Tinubu makes and seeks ways to tackle it.
“Even the members of the NWC know Adamu doesn’t hide the fact that he always wants to be made a key member of decision-makers to decide the direction of the campaign ahead of 2023,” he said.
In the same adjusted list, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal; former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; Director General of the Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu; former Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, were conspicuously missing again.
There were also new additions like Juju maestro, Sir Shina Peters in Creative Arts; Tinubu’s running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima; Dr Mahmood Ahmed and Imman Ibrahim were drafted into Fund Raising Directorate while a war veteran, Major General Cecil Esekhaigbe completed the seven-man Intelligence and Security Directorate.
There were newly created directorates such as Finance Planning, Grassroots Engagement and Orientation, Special Duties, Campaign Planning, Agro Commodities and Civil Societies included in the list while the Creative Arts department was expanded from 20 actors to accommodate 11 additional celebrities.
