President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday said there is no alternative to the victory of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023.
The president said this during the inauguration of the APC Women Presidential Campaign Committee led by his wife, Hajiya Aisha, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Buhari, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, urged the APC to make inroads into the voting populations of women and youth considering their numbers in the 2015 and 2019 presidential elections.
He warned against the temptation of turning the campaign into “an Abuja-centric activity”.
The president advised that a connection must be established between the voting public, the party’s presidential candidate, and other candidates for offices throughout the country.
The APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, while speaking, said the leading opposition party, PDP would never return to power.
He described the PDP as a political party of “termites”, “looters”, “squanderers” and “prisoners”.
Tinubu, who said the sign in his cap signified broken shackle, added that his coming was to break the shackle of poverty, ignorance, destitution and failures to bring success to all Nigerians.
The First Lady, while speaking, expressed concerns over what she called “the progressive decline in the involvement and participation of women in elective and appointive positions at all the three tiers of government.”
She said: “For this reason, our movement has no option but to ask the party leadership to sign a pact with Nigerian women.
“We have no option than to sign a pact with Nigerian women that will spell out the good policies of the party towards women for documentation and follow-up purposes.”
The senator representing Lagos Central Senatorial District and wife of the presidential candidate, Oluremi Tinubu, said that a Tinubu-Shettima presidency would be the “best option” for Nigerian women as both were gender-sensitive.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen, called on Tinubu to allocate 40 per cent of appointments to women if he wins the presidency in 2023 to set the country on the path to a balanced leadership.
In his remarks, the Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, charged the women to dwell on issues and avoid character assassination, hate speech and propaganda.
The APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, expressed confidence that with the women team now in place, there will be no stopping the APC victory in 2023.
Also in attendance at the inauguration were the presidential candidate’s running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima and his wife, Hajiya Nana Shettima.
Others included governors Yahaya Bello (Kogi); Hope Uzodinma (Imo); Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano); Women Leader of the APC, Beta Edu; other leaders of the party; National Assembly members and other faithful.