The All Progressives Congress has said the wife of the vice president, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo, was not excluded from the presidential campaign team of the party.
The ruling party had on October 1 announced the composition of the women’s campaign train led by the First Lady, Aisha Buhari; wife of its presidential candidate, Senator Oluremi Tinubu; and the wife its vice presidential candidate, Hajiya Nana Shettima.
The campaign list which contained the names of 944 high-profile women and was tagged ‘Tinubu-Shettima Women Presidential Campaign Team,’ had Mrs Buhari as grand patron, and Tinubu, a three-term senator, as chairman, with the name of Mrs Dolapo missing.
It will be recalled that the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, were not included in the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, a decision the leadership of the council hinged on the directive of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) to let Osinbajo and Mustapha focus on governance.
But speaking in an interview with our correspondent, the National Women Leader of the APC, Dr Betta Edu, said the vice president’s wife was playing a prominent role in the presidential campaign.
According to her, a name on paper does not translate to work on the ground as those who do the core work do not have their names on the Tinubu-Shettima Women Presidential Campaign Team list.
“Now, the wife of the vice president, she is playing several prominent roles in this campaign. That her name is not on the list does not mean she is not playing a prominent role in the campaign.
“For instance, my name is not in black and white on that list. Of course, I am in the PCC and I am going to be all out there every other day. However, it does not mean I am not playing a role because my name is not there (on the women’s presidential campaign team).
“A name on paper does not translate to work on the ground. Let me state it this way: people who do the core of the campaign don’t even have their names on any paper,” Edu said.
She added, “So, again, as I told you the campaign team is just a support wing of the main campaign council; it’s not a council and different people can play different roles. Indeed, the President had insisted that the vice president and the secretary to the government of the federation should be allowed to run the government because he cannot be on the road every day campaigning and at the same time, every other person who is supposed to be providing governance would also be on the road campaigning.
