As the campaigns for the 2023 general election gather momentum, deputy national organising secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Nze Chidi Duru, has called on political office seekers and their supporters in various parties to focus on addressing issues affecting Nigerians and how they intend to resolve them when elected.
The APC chieftain made the call during an interview monitored by our correspondent on NTA’s popular show, Weekend Deal.
Duru stated that Nigerians are interested in knowing what the candidates can do to tackle the problems in the country, such as infrastructure and security challenges, in order to create a conducive environment for businesses to thrive boost the economy.
He urged politicians to therefore, eschew all forms of hate speeches and divisive comments in their campaigns to avoid heating up the polity.
He said the APC has always carried out its activities within the ambit of the law, adding that the party’s campaign across all elective positions in the country would be issues-based devoid of hate speech, name-calling, and other unethical practices and urged other political parties to borrow a leaf from the party.
“Our campaign will focus on how to put food on the table, how to create the best environment for businesses to strive in Nigeria, how we can ensure that our children are back in school, how do we ensure that Nigerians are given the best opportunity with their God-given talents to raise money, realize their ambitions and employ Nigerians, how do we ensure that Nigerians in the diaspora maintain contact with those at home and are involved in governance and how do we ensure that Nigeria stands its place among the comity of nations,” he revealed.
He also called on the media to play a big role in the electioneering process by helping to redirect the candidates to what is important and avoid indulging in hate speech as they embark on campaigns across the country in the months to come before the election.
“The media is more than any other thing is duty bound to redirect the candidates to and the political parties to what is important; and what is in our view is what would the electorates expect from the political party and the candidates. Therefore, the media should always steer the candidates in that direction,” Duru stated.
Speaking about party’s preparation for the election, Duru said the APC is well prepared and will officially kick off its campaigns in few days time.
He stated that the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has the experience and charisma to provide leadership as well as offer solutions to problems that Nigerians earnestly desired.
Nze Duru said the party has brought the best consultants and professionals in Nigeria on board and they have identified what Nigerians want which has formed part of the party’s manifesto that would be unveiled by the National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.
“The manifesto has received the approval of the highest echelon of the party, and of course the Presidential Campaign Council of the party as well as input from members of the party across the country. We are more than ready to kick-start our campaign. Once the manifesto is rolled out, the candidates of the party will begin to take it out to the doorsteps of Nigerians to showcase how prepared we are to provide the leadership that they are yearning for”, Duru stated.
