Smear campaigns will hurt APC at presidential election, Nabena cautions party members

Yekini Nabena, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says all the presidential aspirants in the party are qualified for the ticket.

So far, Bola Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos state, and David Umahi, Ebonyi governor, have indicated an interest in flying the party’s flag at the 2023 polls.

In a statement on Monday, Nabena said supporters of these aspirants must desist from smear campaigns that could demarket the candidature of anyone who eventually emerges as APC’s flagbearer.

“My appeal is for all our members to embrace issues-based campaign strategies in selling whoever they feel should succeed our dear President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023,” the politician said.

“There is no need to be unnecessarily emotive about it.

“I believe that all our presidential aspirants are well qualified to pick the ticket. It is a fact that participatory democracy gives room for choices even within the same political party as it is a practice in the APC.

“We should therefore engage constructively without demonising ourselves bearing in mind that whatever we say against each other now will later be capitalized on by other political parties during the general elections.

“It is also important not to distract both the party and some of our aspirants who are still holding one position of responsibility or the other. We should not deny Nigerians the dividends of democracy we promised by unnecessarily heating up the polity.”