The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council claims that Bola Tinubu, the party’s nominee, has moved on and harbors no resentment toward Naja’atu Mohammed, the outgoing director of the PCC Civil Society.
Speaking to reporters at the “CSOs Pre-Election Roundtable” in Abuja on Wednesday, Senator Mohammed Hassan, the director of the Civil Societies Directorate, reaffirmed that Tinubu’s campaign is not missing her predecessor as a result of her departure.
Two days prior, the Police Service Commission had removed the former Tinubu campaign director from its list of recently hired coordinators.
Following a petition by the PCC Chief Spokesman, Festus Keyamo, who criticized the activist’s appointment as callous and insensitive, the activist was replaced with an Assistant Inspector General of Police, Bawa Lawal (retired), to serve as the new coordinator for the North East.
However, Hassan pointed out that no one, not even the presidential candidate, had any complaints about Naja’atu choosing not to join the campaign council.
The senator explained that their only issue with the former director was his desperate attempts to discredit the APC candidate. The senator was represented by Okpokwu Ogenyi, the secretary of Renewed Hope Ambassadors and a member of the PCC.
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 said that no one in the civil society directorate was happy to see her lose her position as the coordinator of the Police Service Commission for the North-West, further demonstrating their lack of animosity toward her.
He asserts that the commission has the authority to keep or terminate her appointment.
“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.
