Campaign: Stop Following Tinubu Around, Focus On Grassroots – Orji Kalu Tells APC Leaders

Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, lawmaker representing Abia North Senatorial District, has called for a leaner presidential campaign team, urging political leaders to mobilise voters at grassroots level.

Kalu, a former governor of Abia made the call in a statement issued to journalists in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital, on Wednesday.

He asked political leaders to concentrate on their respective wards, local governments and states rather than following President Bola Tinubu during nationwide campaigns.

Kalu suggested that the President should attend campaign rallies with a small team, while other political leaders returned to their respective constituencies to mobilise support for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“The president should be allowed to attend campaign rallies without an unnecessarily large number of people following him in the campaign train.

“Instead, they should return to their respective states and work at the grassroots level to mobilise support and deliver victory to the APC.

“Let Tinubu move with a small team; the rest of the leaders should stay back and talk to voters where they live,” Kalu said.

Reacting to Kalu’s position, an APC chieftain in Ebonyi, Chief Abia Onyike, described the former governor’s suggestion as appropriate.

Onyike, a former Commissioner for Information and Orientation in Ebonyi, said that the practice of following political leaders around during campaigns was unnecessary.

He urged political leaders to engage voters independently by presenting their manifestoes, policies and programmes.

“Leaders should be seen standing independently to speak to the people and engage them in important conversations, selling their manifestoes and programmes.

“The culture of moving about with rented crowds should be jettisoned; it does not add to the credibility of a leader, people should be original,” he said.

Similarly, a labour leader, Mr Leo Nkah, called on politicians to concentrate on mobilising voters within their respective spheres of influence.

Nkah, a former President of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in Ebonyi, said that presidential candidates sometimes suffered a disservice from people who claimed to support them but neglected grassroots mobilisation.

He observed that many political leaders who followed presidential candidates during campaigns were indirectly avoiding the responsibilities of mobilising voters in their wards, local governments and states.

“They want the president or governor, as the case may be, to see their presence as support; this is erroneous,” he said. (NAN)