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Prominent pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group: HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has accused top officials embedded in the office of the president of actively providing slush funds with which several pro-Tinubu 2027 RE-ELECTION agenda are being prosecuted in industrial scale all over the Country with nearly two years to the 2027 general elections.
HURIWA also accused top Federal government officials including ministers and leaders of the All Progressives Congress of abusing their powers by inducing or blackmailing opposition politicians holding public offices in some states and the National Assembly to abandon the parties that sponsored their elections to enlist in the APC to drum up support for Tinubu’s re-election bid.
HURIWA said: “With the meticulously orchestrated and seemingly well-funded open campaigns and serial endorsements of President Tinubu for 2027 by many heavyweights of the All Progressives Congress and some PDP fallen politicians who are falling on themselves to outdo each other in staging and choreographing political jamboree and pseudo-carnivals to drum up support for the Tinubu’s 2027 RE-ELECTION, it is very obvious that there can be no smoke without fire and the masquerades do not dance when drummers aren’t drumming for them.”
Right from the Senate President, ranking Senators across political party divides, the National leadership of the All Progressives Congress and the Deputy Speaker of the Federal house of representatives, Nigerians have seen these high profile public office holders make use of public resources and time to organise political carnivals just so they can address the media pretending that their supporters and constituents have endorsed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for second term and we think this is a violation of the electoral Act and the constitution because this is like beginning a competitive football match even before the blast of the whistle signalling official commencement by the accredited referee.
HURIWA has also accused many Senators and members of the Federal House of Representatives especially those of the All Progressives Congress and those who had left the political parties that sponsored them to their current positions of deploying funds apparently meant for their constituency projects, to start off early campaigns for the endorsement of Tinubu’s second term by their so-called constituents who are obviously induced through bribes to enlist in the illegal campaigns of mass endorsement.
HURIWA thinks that the recent caution by the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Tinubu Mr. Bayo Onanuga to campaigners of Tinubu’s second term to desist, was just a deception meant to achieve objective of exonerating the President from the multiple Kangaroo campaigns going on in many parts of the country especially by public office holders who apparently are deploying public funds to carry out these partisan campaigns that are illegal and unconstitutional.
HURIWA recalled that it had earlier protested the extensive campaigns for the re-election of President Tinubu for 2027 just as it asserted that the President through the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Tinubu Mr Bayo Onanuga had denied that the President approved of these rash of early campaigns for his second term.
“We urgently call on individuals and groups funding this 2027 political campaign through the ongoing deployment of materials on billboards nationwide to cease immediately,” it said in a statement signed by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
The statement was titled ‘Presidency Disclaims 2027 Campaign Billboards Nationwide.’
Onanuga said, “The Presidency has observed, with dismay, the increasing number of billboards in some cities.
“Worth noting is that some of these billboards with pictures of the President and his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, emblazoned on them, are springing up in Abuja and Kano, in particular. The electoral law that guides the conduct of elections and political campaigns forbids any form of campaign for the 2027 general elections.
“While President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima greatly appreciate their teeming and loyal supporters across the country for their enthusiasm and continuing support, the two leaders do not support any campaign that breaches the laws of the land.”
The Presidency argued that premature campaigning can undermine the integrity of the electoral process and create unfair advantages.
“As law-abiding leaders, President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima do not support any action that undermines our institutions and the electoral process,” Onanuga said.
Until the Independent National Electoral Commission sets the timetable for the 2027 elections, Onanuga cautioned that the President had not endorsed or authorised anyone or any group to mount a 2027 campaign for him through any media channel—be it Out-of-Home, print, digital, radio, or television.
It urged supporters of the administration to cease immediately, adding that “President Tinubu and his deputy are fully committed to delivering the ongoing task of nation-building they have set for themselves.”
This commitment is evident in their focus on economic revitalisation, human capital development, infrastructural renewal, social investment, and national security, said Onanuga.
“When INEC signals that the processes for the 2027 elections can start, President Tinubu will duly inform Nigerians of his plans,” he stated.
HURIWA however suspects that the facts that those openly orchestrating these campaigns which violate all the relevant election related campaign laws of Nigeria are key public office holders of the ruling party and even elected legislators of the All Progressives Congress including the Senate President, the Deputy Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, some governors including the governors of Akwa Ibom, Delta States, means that there is more to it than meets the eyes regarding the spate of early campaigns for Tinubu’s re-election.
HURIWA in a media statement endorsed by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko said that those high profile government officials carrying out the illegal re-election campaigns for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu believe that they are above the law since their political party the All Progressives Congress controls the Independent National Electoral Commission and all the relevant law enforcement agencies so they can’t be cautioned, arrested or prosecuted for violating the electoral Act and the constitution regarding campaigns for elective offices in Nigeria.
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