BY ROTIMI DUROJAIYE
To drive its strategy for electoral victory in the 2023 presidential poll, the All Progressives Congress and its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, on Friday unveiled a 422-man committee comprising political heavyweights and other notable members to pilot the various sub-committees of the campaign council.
The list of members released by the Presidential Campaign Council Secretary, James Faleke, in Abuja, followed 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 President Muhammadu Buhari, has Tinubu and the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, as co-deputy chairmen.
Also on the PCC are APC governors, ministers, lawmakers, ambassadors as well as serving and past public office holders.
Zonal and state coordinators, advisers, campaign patrons, directors, deputy directors and secretaries of directorates were also named.
The sub-committees include media and publicity; support group coordination; national youth mobilisation; parliamentarian; trade and economic; agriculturists/commodities; campaign planning; civil societies; Diaspora directorate; election planning and monitoring; finance; fund raising; and humanitarian/social.
Others are ICT/data management; intelligence and security; labour; logistics and support service; medicals; policy research and strategy; protocol and events, and others.
Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, retained his position as the Director-General and Adams Oshiomhole as the Deputy Director-General (Operations), while Bayo Onanuga is the Director of Media and Publicity.
Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State and Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum was appointed the vice-chairman and state coordinator, while ex-Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, is the vice-chairman, South-South.
A former female APC presidential aspirant, Uju Kennedy, is the council’s vice-chairman, South-East.
Governor Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State is the regional coordinator and chairman for North, while his Ebonyi State counterpart, David Umahi, was appointed the regional coordinator for the South-East and Ebonyi State.
Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River was also appointed the regional director in charge of the South-South and his state.
Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, is the zonal coordinator for the South-West and his state, while his Niger State counterpart, Abubakar Bello, will coordinate the North-Central and his state.
Also on the list are Governor Muhammed Yahaya, who is the zonal coordinator for the North-East and Gombe State, and Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, who emerged as the zonal coordinator for the North-West and the state.
No fewer than 24 actors are on the performing arts directorate and they include notable Nollywood stars such as Zack Orji, Jide Kosoko, Saheed Balogun, Foluke Daramola, Nuhu Abdullahi, Bimbo Akintola and Fatiha Balogun, among others.
Faleke’s statement read in part, “We are pleased to announce the nominees of the leadership of the APC Presidential Campaign Council as per enclosed. All nominees are kindly advised to pick up their appointment letters from the undersigned on Monday, September 26, 2022, at 12noon.
“The venue is the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council on Plot 781 Herbert Macaulay Way, Central Area, Abuja. All other members will be contacted by the leaders of their respective directorates.”
However, the names of many party stalwarts were conspicuously missing from the campaign council, some of whom have flayed Tinubu over his preference for the contentious Muslim-Muslim ticket.
The absentees include Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal; former Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba; Osita Okechukwu; and one of Tinubu’s loyalists, Adebayo Shittu, who heads one of his biggest support groups, the Asiwaju Tinubu-Shettima Coalition for Good Governance.
While Osinbajo appeared to have distanced himself from the former Lagos governor after his emergence as winner of the APC presidential ticket, the duo of Dogara and Lawal has consistently criticised Tinubu’s choice of ex-Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, a Muslim, as his running mate.
On the part of the People’s Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar’s spokesman, Paul Ibe, said PDP’s campaign council would be unveiled on Wednesday.
“There is a programme already in place for that. After the inauguration, I believe they would immediately go into their first meeting. From the meeting we will get a direction on how they are going to push forward,” he said.
“Top chieftains of parties, campaign committee members, political actors and pundits have predicted that the campaign spending of 2023 would be higher than that of 2019, in view of the high stakes and price fluctuations due to inflation”
The APC will kick off its presidential campaign nationwide on Wednesday in line with the directive of the Independent National Electoral Commission that campaigns should start on September 28.
The Presidential Campaign Council would begin its electioneering with a solidarity march from the PCC office on Herbert Macaulay Way, Central Business District, Abuja, to the Unity Fountain, Maitama.
It was also gathered that necessary logistics had been put in place to ensure that the campaigns take off simultaneously in different regions of the country.
CANDIDATES BEGIN MOBILISATION OF FUNDS AHEAD OF CAMPAIGNS
Section 88 (2) of the 2022 Electoral Act pegs the maximum election expenses to be incurred by a candidate at a presidential election at N5billion, while subsection (9) of the same provision stipulates that a candidate who knowingly acts in contravention of this section commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of 1 percent of the amount permitted as the limit of campaign expenditure under this Act or imprisonment for a term, not more than 12 months, or both.
However, top chieftains of parties, campaign committee members, political actors and pundits have predicted that the campaign spending of 2023 would be higher than that of 2019, in view of the high stakes and price fluctuations due to inflation.
Although, 18 political parties have fielded candidates for the presidential election, slated for February 25, 2023 by INEC, the four major contenders for the presidential race, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Lagos State governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu; former Kano State governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, are expected to spend billions of naira to prosecute their campaigns.
The spending for the presidential campaign in 2019 was N1 billion, it was, however, reviewed upward to N5 billion this year during the amendment to the Electoral Act by the National Assembly.
Chieftains of parties, including those who have been pencilled down to serve in the campaign committees of the APC and the PDP, said that to successfully prosecute a presidential campaign, over N100 billion would be required.
They listed the key expenditure to include nationwide rallies in states, publicity, transport, logistics, security and mobilisation on Election Day.
The candidates are expected to kick-start their campaigns with a flag-off and follow it up with rallies in states. It is expected that the candidates would visit each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to promote themselves.
An APC chieftain who had participated in three presidential campaigns said the expenditure on rallies includes chartering of aircraft, hiring of venues, and vehicles, mobilisation of supporters to the state capital (venue of rallies) and handouts to traditional rulers and other stakeholders during visits.
“There is no way over N500 million would not be spent on rallies in each state. Because you want to intimidate your opponent, you will mobilise from even neighbouring states for you to have the desired crowd,” he said.
Publicity was described as the tonic and lubricant of the campaign by an ally of one of the presidential candidates.
He said that for a start, his associate had budgeted N2 billion for publicity because of the importance he attached to it.
Breaking down the provision for publicity, he said it included banners, posters, t-shirts, advert placement on local, national and international media outfits, jingles, commercials, engagement of musicians, appearance on television, publication of articles and engagement of social media influencers, among others.
A member of the National Executive Committee of the APC, Yekini Nabena, however, said, “Politics is all about interest. If you are selling a product, people will know whether your product is good for them to buy or not.
“We have a product we are selling, and the product is Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Jagaban, so we will put him on the market and the people will know whether he is good or not. We know the product we are selling. We are going to put our product in the stock market and funds will come in.”
A top member of the PDP said that the party understood what it takes to campaign and what it involves.
“I can’t tell you the exact amount, but billions of naira is required. But having said that, I believe the party and Atiku are equal to the task. He (Atiku) has travelled to Dubai and Europe on a business trip; you know he is a businessman. I believe it is part of the preparation for the campaigns.
“The only challenge I can tell you is the problem in the party between the national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu and the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike. But I believe that with the campaign council in place, the party has passed that stage. What Wike fails to bring on board, Okowa can do for the party,” he said.
The biggest of all, according to top party chieftains, is the expenditure on Election Day. The expenditure, they said, would start with the mobilisation of state coordinators.
An APC member in the North said the N5 billion threshold was a mockery of democracy, saying the amount cannot prosecute a governorship election, even in small states like Bayelsa and Zamfara.
“Let me give you an example. In 2019, during the governorship election in our state, the governor spent N2.5bn on Election Day to ensure that each polling unit was delivered.
The 2023 campaign would be the most expensive in the history of the country, looking at the way the primaries of the two major political parties were conducted,” he said.
For two agents to be deployed to 176,846 polling units across the country, the candidates are expected to spend N3.5 billion if each of the agents would be given a N10, 000 allowances.
“In addition to the polling units, you would mobilise top shots of your party, including commissioners, ministers, senators, members of the House of Representatives, state assembly members and appointees to deliver their areas,” he said.
With the new trend of vote-buying especially as witnessed in recently conducted off-season elections, the Election Day spending for candidates could be much higher.
The APC national publicity secretary, Felix Morka, said the party would raise funds through donations by well-to-do members, adding that it would determine methods of fund-raising as the campaigns progress.
“Yes, the campaigns commence in a few days and will continue until the timeline expires before the elections. So we have a significant time to raise campaign funds. Fundraising is a programme, it is a process. Funds are raised routinely, by donations.
“We have over 40 million members who are encouraged. I believe that in the course of the campaigns, the party would decide on other methods, activities or events to raise funds.
“Right now, we are in that mode; we are thinking, planning and hoping that we would get the resources to execute all the activities ahead of the elections next year,” he said.
On his part, the national publicity secretary of the Labour Party, Arabambi Abayomi, said their expenditure would be within the threshold of the Electoral Act.
According to him, N5 billion, in all considerations, is a very huge sum of money, which in every measure is adequate to campaign for any political party not harbouring a desperate and hidden agenda.
“Every election year, for every active and contesting political party, it is usually money and resources costing. However, with the LP, it is quite controllable and relatively easy to manage all the needful expenses on a campaign within the provisions of the constitution.
“There are all kinds of expenses that differ from party to party. For the LP, it is very standard to only get engaged in expenses relevant to publicity and the acquisition of campaign sites, electronic address system to cover the campaign ground, including travelling costs; that is about all.
“The LP doesn’t provide or earmark money for vote buying and its partner stomach infrastructure. In the LP, there is no plan to influence or cheat the process before or during elections.
“Raising funds for the campaign in the LP is inevitably guided and limited by the fact that the main support base of the party is largely farmers, artisans, working class, students, women, professionals and all other citizens of Nigeria who accept the ideals of social democracy. This doesn’t mean that some members of the LP are not buoyant and financially blessed.
“The LP would raise funds within the available circle of its friends and well-wishers who share its aims and mission within the country and in the diaspora,” he added.
In his submission, the spokesperson of the NNPP, Major Agbor, said N5 billion was not needed for the campaign.
He said, “The first question is: What is the N5 billion needed for? The NNPP does not, and will never be involved in vote buying, and so, does not require such a humongous amount to win. We believe in our candidate, Senator Kwankwaso, who is a friend of ordinary Nigerians, some of whom he has given access to free education, both on and outside the shores of this country.
“He does not require money to get their votes. Only vote buyers such as the PDP and APC, in whose direction Nigerians are not looking, require much money to prosecute the election, but they will be shocked at the polls, even with such an amount.
“Any money required as logistics during the campaign will be sourced from party members and ordinary Nigerians, who are already itching to make donations as soon as directives are given to that effect,” he said.
Aside from the formal fund raising for the campaigns, political parties and key candidates often get a chunk of their campaign money through discreet donations from influential businessmen, corporate organisations and public office holders.
“The 2023 campaign would be the most expensive in the history of the country, looking at the way the primaries of the two major political parties were conducted”
2023 ELECTION AS LIKELY MOST EXPENSIVE
In the last eight years, fee for nomination form in the APC increased by a whopping 264%, from N27.5million in 2015 to N100m in 2023.
Breakdown of the figures showed that the Presidential nomination form increased by about 64% in four years, rising from N27.5m in 2015 to N45m in 2019.
Furthermore, the fee jumped by 122% in 2023 to N100m as against N45m in the last four years.
Also, INEC will spend not less than N239.2bn on procuring voting materials and vehicles that will be used in the 2023 general election.
This is according to the 2023 General Election Project Plan that was launched by INEC in Abuja.
The commission stated that N239.2bn, which constitutes 78.44 per cent of its N305bn budget, would be spent on 10 critical items which included ballot papers, operational vehicles, ballot boxes, allowances of ad hoc workers, printing of result sheets, logistics and procurement of accreditation devices.
Also included in the N239.2bn budget is the N27.1bn set aside by the commission for possible run-off elections, including the one for the presidential poll.
A breakdown of the document, 2023 General Election Project Plan, shows that the highest single component will be the procurement of accreditation devices which will gulp N105.2bn. This also constitutes 34.51 per cent of the total election budget of N305bn.
The allowance for ad hoc workers, who will be more than one million people, is pegged at N23.7bn while N23bn was set aside for election logistics expenses which include the movement, deployment and retrieval of men and materials for the elections.
INEC will also spend N20.6bn on the printing of ballot papers and N12.7bn on the procurement of non-sensitive materials. The commission set aside N9.5bn for the printing of result sheets, N7.8bn for the procurement of ballot boxes and a separate N5.39bn for the same purpose. The electoral body will also spend N3.9bn for the procurement of operational vehicles.
In a diagram illustrating a comparative analysis of the 2019 and 2023 general election budgets, INEC noted that while N189bn was set aside for the previous elections, the 2023 general election would gulp N305bn.
It noted that while the country had 84 million registered voters in the last elections, it would have about 100 million voters next year. Also, while 119, 973 polling units existed last year, the next elections would have 176, 846 polling units. It noted that while the average cost per voter was $7.38 in 2019, it had dropped to $5.39 per voter.
Nigeria’s elections are among the most expensive in the world, with the cost soaring from a little above N1 billion in 1999 to over N100 billion in 2023.
