•Tinubu, Obi, Atiku free to canvass for votes
Campaigns for the January 16 Presidential election will officially kick off tomorrow in line with the guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
But not yet.
A survey by our correspondents indicated that leading political parties – the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) – are not ready yet to go on the stump, or are smaller parties, reports The Nation.
Campaigns into National Assembly offices will also open tomorrow. The elections will be held on the same day as the presidential poll.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (APC) is being challenged by Peter Obi (NDC), Atiku Abubakar (ADC) and 16 others.
“We are not ready to be on the move for five months. It is expensive, energy-sapping and laborious,” a top official of one of the top parties said last night.
So far, none of the parties has set up campaign committees or released schedules of activities for the campaigns.
The campaign for the presidential and National Assembly elections is the sixth item on the timetable and schedule of activities released by the Commission.
It is in line with the provisions of Section 98(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026, which provides that campaigns by every political party shall commence 150 days before polling day and end 24 hours prior to that day.
Campaigns for governorship and Houses of Assembly elections scheduled for February 6 next year would kick off on September 9.
The parties have up to August 22 to substitute any of their candidates that withdraws from the contest in line with Section 31 of the Electoral Act.
According to INEC, the parties have till August 29 to submit candidates’ nomination forms (Form 13A to E) in accordance with Section 30 (1).
The final list of nominated candidates is expected to be published by the Commission on September 12 in accordance with Section 32(1), which provides for the publication, at least, 60 days before the election.
A member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of a major opposition party, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said party leaders are not in a hurry to begin campaigns.
He said: “We have a five-month window. The party leaders are planning a meeting for the end of the month to discuss the campaign plan.”
A governorship candidate on the platform of the APC, who said campaigns require planning, said the long period allotted to campaigns can induce stress.
He said: “Five months for campaigns? It will overstretch us.”
APC will unveil plan, says Morka
APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, told reporters that plans are underway to unveil a detailed, nationwide campaign programme later in the month.
He clarified that while the August 19 date marks the legal commencement of the campaign window, it is not a mandatory requirement for parties to launch rallies immediately.
Morka stressed: “August 19 is the date fixed by INEC for all parties to start the presidential and National Assembly campaign.
“There is no law that we must start on that day. The only thing is, no political party is permitted to start ahead of the day.”
Morka, who spoke with reporters after the National Working Committee (NWC) meeting yesterday at the party’s secretariat in Abuja, said the ruling party is deliberately structuring its strategy before hitting the podium.
He said APC would consult and plan well before embarking on the campaign journey.
We’re ready for polls, says Mohammed
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Abdulrahman Mohammed told a delegation from the International Republican Institute that the party is ready for the polls.
He said: “We are PDP, and we belong to the people of Nigeria, and our yearning and aspiration is to give responsible leadership to the electorate.
“That is why, for over 20-something years, the party remained democratic, and is in all the 36 states, FCT and 774 local governments of Nigeria. I want to assure you that the PDP is fully ready for the election.”
LP to campaign on NLC, TUC platforms
The Labour Party (LP) said it would leverage its relationship with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to mobilise voters and strengthen its grassroots campaigns.
National Publicity Secretary, Ken Asogwa, said the party is prepared to face the electorate, adding that it has developed “a formidable organisational structure, an energised membership base, and a credible presidential candidate.”
He also described the party’s governorship and House of Assembly candidates as people of integrity and acceptability, adding that their credibility would attract votes.
Asogwa said the LP’s advantage lies in its institutional relationship with organised labour.
He added: “As we have consistently maintained, the Labour Party is today the most structured political party in Nigeria.
“The party is unique among all political parties because the NLC and the TUC are its institutional members. There is hardly any polling unit, ward, local government or community in Nigeria that does not have a serving or retired civil servant.
“No other political party, including the APC, can genuinely boast of such an extensive nationwide structure.
“We never harnessed this potential in the past, but today the present leadership of the Party has gone to marry the Labour Unions in a manner never seen before,” he said.
He said the party would now deploy the strength of the labour unions and its grassroots network to sell its candidates and policies to Nigerians.
Asogwa expressed optimism that the electoral body would publish the names of LP governorship and House of Assembly candidates.
He said the party had complied with INEC’s deadline by uploading the names of its candidates before the closure of the submission window.
Asogwa added: “We are hopeful that all our candidates for governorship and state Houses of Assembly will be published by the electoral body, just as they did with our Presidential and National Assembly candidates.
“Gladly, we were able to beat the deadline set by the Commission by ensuring all our candidates’ names were uploaded before the closure of the window.”
