PDP presidential campaign not suspended, says Tambuwal

Aminu Tambuwal, governor of Sokoto, says the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has not suspended its presidential campaign for the 2023 election.

According to a statement issued by Muhammad Bello, Tambuwal’s media adviser, the governor said this on Thursday in Lagos.

There have been reports that the main opposition party has suspended its presidential campaign, which was flagged off in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom capital, on Monday.

Tambuwal, who is the director-general of the PDP campaign organisation, said the presidential rally has not been suspended and will resume on Monday in Kaduna.

The governor said he was “amazed and taken aback last night when I saw on social media and on very many platforms that we’ve called off our campaign”.

“That is far from the truth. In fact, it is fake news. People are looking forward to our coming to states, capitals, and villages because PDP is the party to beat in 2023,” he said.

“Other parties are afraid because they have not started (their campaigns). None of them has composed their campaign councils, not to even talk of starting. They are trying to throw spanner at our works. They will not succeed.

“It is one of those shenanigans when you see a party doing well and its candidate is better than yours. What you begin to do is to cause mischief. It is not going to work. We’ll run our campaign. As I said before, it is going to be issue-based. We believe there are sufficient problems bedevilling our country.

“I believe in the candidature of Atiku and Okowa. I also believe that when we get there, we shall do better for Nigeria and we hope we are able to convince Nigerians to vote for Atiku/Okowa come February 2023.”

Meanwhile, TheCable understands that the PDP was scheduled to hold its presidential campaign in Kebbi and Zamfara states on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

An insider told TheCable that the campaigns did not hold as planned because Udom Emmanuel, governor of Akwa Ibom and chairman of the PDP presidential campaign council, travelled out of the country.

Sources said the opposition party will resume campaigns on Monday as Emmanuel is expected back in the country before then.