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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is currently meeting with governors elected on the party’s platform and members of the National Working Committed (NWC) at the Transcorps Hilton Hotel, in Abuja.
The top echelon of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council are also in attendance.
It was learnt that the issue of composition and inauguration of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council as well as when the party would formally kick-off its campaigns would be discussed at the meeting.
The delay in the commencement of the APC campaign was as a result of the crisis within its fold over the composition of the presidential campaign team as stakeholders have been holding various meetings.
In one of the meetings attended by some APC governors, the national chairman, Sen Abdullahi Adamu, said the party would lose the 2023 poll without the input of its governors.
Prior to the official opening of campaigns by INEC, the Secretary of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, James Faleke, had released a 422-member list.
But the development triggered a crisis among party stakeholders, including the National Working Committee (NWC), and governors who are members of the party, as they claimed they were not carried along.
Some governors were said to be aggrieved on the grounds that their nominees were not included in the campaign council.
Following the outcry that greeted the list, the Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council and Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, announced the postponement of the inauguration to pave way for the inclusion of more party stakeholders.
However, the APC Presidential Campaign Council spokesperson and Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN), on Tuesday, said that the final list would be released this week, after which a date for the formal commencement of campaign would be announced.