Posted by Amarachi on Wed 22nd Feb, 2023 - tori.ng
Hassan noted that nobody including the presidential candidate begrudged Naja’atu for opting out of the campaign council.
Naja’atu Mohammed
The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council says its principal, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu holds no grudge against Naja’atu Mohammed, the former Director of the PCC Civil Societies after she joined the Atiku/Okowa campaign team.
Addressing newsmen at the ‘CSOs Pre-Election Roundtable’ in Abuja on Wednesday, the Director of the Civil Societies Directorate, Senator Mohammed Hassan, reiterated that nobody in Tinubu’s campaign is missing her predecessor following her exit.
The development is coming two days after the Police Service Commission dropped the ex-Tinubu campaign director from its list of newly appointed coordinators.
The activist was replaced with an Assistant Inspector General of Police, Bawa Lawal (retd.) to act as the new coordinator for the North East following a petition by the PCC Chief Spokesperson, Festus Keyamo, who described her appointment as callous and insensitive.
But Hassan noted that nobody including the presidential candidate begrudged Naja’atu for opting out of the campaign council.
The senator, who was represented by the Secretary of Renewed Hope Ambassadors and a member of the PCC, Okpokwu Ogenyi, explained the only challenge they have with the former director was desperation to malign the APC candidate.
He said, “Our principal has no grudge against Naja’atu Mohammed neither do we as a directorate of the APC presidential campaign. She came in to serve and opted out when she considered it best to leave. All that Naja’atu said about Asiwaju, I won’t say she is lying, are not true.
“I said this in the sense that Asiwaju recently participated in an interactive session with order presidential candidate and he performed excellently well. I can tell you that I spent four hours with him and have seen him drinking his tea himself while interacting with people. He is even stronger and healthier than many younger people that I know.
“We and our principal, therefore, hold no grudge against Naja’atu. She has done her best and left us. We, on our own part, have also moved on. As you can see, we have done about three programmes in her absence.”
Hassan also noted that to further show that they don’t harbor any hatred against her, nobody in the civil society’s directorate celebrates her being dropped as the coordinator of Police Service Commission for the North-West.
According to him, the decision to retain or revoke her appointment is the prerogative of the commission.
“That is the prerogative of the Police Service Commission. We are not part of the PSC. We are politicians. But I believe that you cannot be in politics and be in law enforcement again at the same time.
“The police must have seen reason with what the APC spokesperson said and decided to drop her. It is their responsibility and we have no business with that,” he stated.