Buhari To Campaign In 36 States, Says He Will Win

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has set out campaign plans that will see President Muhammadu Buhari visiting all the 36 states of the federation with a grand finale rally in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

9news Nigeria  gathered from presidency sources at the strategy and inaugural meeting of the party’s presidential campaign council, held at the Presidential Villa Thursday that the party has scheduled its national campaigns to last for 18 days commencing on January 12.

“The next stage of presidential campaign has been scheduled to begin next Saturday, January 12 in Bauchi.

“The plan is for the president to campaign in all the 36 states, though some states will be paired so as to conclude the tour in 18 days,” a source said.

The meeting, which was presided over by the president, who assured the participant he was sure of victory at the February 16 poll, was, however, not attended by any of the party’s governors that are members of the council.

But the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Malam Lanre Isa-Onilu, quickly dispelled claims that the governors’ absence was a sign of worsening crisis in the party, explaining that being an administrative meeting, the presence of the state chief executives was not mandatory.

According to report, the meeting dwelt mainly on campaign schedules and strategies to adopt in order to cover all the states in view of the time constraint.

He said Bauchi and Gombe States would be the next port of call for the APC presidential campaign train, which would hold on Saturday.

It was learnt that Buhari and top leaders of APC would be using the Bauchi campaign rally to formally receive former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, into the ruling party.
The source explained that the campaign schedule was drawn up in such a way that the president would visit some of the states in pairs.

For instance, the source said that the president would campaign in Rivers and Bayelsa States in one day.
Other states likely to be paired include, Ebonyi and Cross River, Enugu and Anambra, Kogi and Benue.
The ruling party had earlier said that it would unleash an intensive national campaign in the New Year that would take it into the general elections.