Even as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is yet to release the time-table and guidelines for the conduct of next year’s general elections, a number of presidential aspirants have already emerged from two of the 57 registered political parties. In the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former military President, Ibrahim Babangida and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar have formally declared their intention to contest the nation’s number one job. The current governor of Kano state, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau has also indicated his interest in the race which he wants to run on the ticket of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP). Political/Features Editor, Tom Chiahemen takes a look at the campaign teams constituted by the three presidential aspirants against the backdrop of the type and quality of campaigns they are likely to mount.

The forthcoming presidential election scheduled for January 2011 will be the 8th in Nigeria since independence in 1960. Of these, the 1979, 1983 and 1993 presidential elections remain most memorable in terms of the type and quality of campaigns executed by the various presidential flag bearers.
A number of names that made the campaign teams of the most successful candidates still come to mind. For instance, in the 1979 and 1983 elections, the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and its presidential candidate, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, followed by the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and its flagbearer, Alhaji Shehu Shagari and the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and his Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP), ran very sleek campaigns. Awolowo’s campaign team, known for its ideological bent, paraded formidable ideologues as Chief Ebenezer Babatope (director of organization) and late Chief MCK Ajuluchukwu (director of research and publicity). Shagari’s campaign team had Dr. Umaru Dikko (director-general), Adamu Augie, Suleiman Takama and Chuba Okadigbo, among others.
In the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, the names of Dr. Jonathan Zwingina and Dr. Doyin Okupe easily come to mind as those who propelled the campaign teams of late Chief MKO Abiola of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC), respectively. The eleven years of uninterrupted democracy (1999 to date) have not however witnessed any remarkable campaigns leading to the presidential elections conducted in 1999, 2003 and 2007.

Babangida’s team
His campaign directorate was swift in debunking a statement credited to Vice-President Namadi Sambo early this week to the effect that Babangida was selfish in his pursuit of zoning of the presidency to the north. Babangida’s contribution to national development, unity and stability of the polity, according to his campaign team, cannot be quantified. “More than any president before and after, IBB’s records cannot be equaled.”
It noted that his desire to stage a comeback “is borne out of altruistic and patriotic commitment to sustaining the nation despite all our diverse cultures and multiplicity of interests. “It is therefore an unfair statement for anyone to see this elder statesman from the prism of personal interest. We take strong exception to that.”
Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, Chairman of Daar Communications Plc, owners of African Independent Television (AIT) and Ray Power FM, is the Director- General of Babangida’s campaign team. Dokpsei, 59, from Edo State was General Manager of the defunct African Airlines Limited and Chief of Staff to Alhaji Bamanga Tukur when Tukur was Governor of the old Gongola state in 1983. He pioneered private broadcasting in 1994 with Ray Power.
Senator Kanti Bello, a one-time Managing Director of the Katsina Steel Rolling Mills and currently the Chief Whip of the Senate is the deputy Director-General of the campaign. Kanti Bello, 65, Babangida’s campaign Deputy Director General is Chief Whip of the Senate from Katsina state. He read Engineering at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and made national headline earlier in the year when he accused the Minister of Information, Prof. Dora Akunyili of “cooking” for the former First Lady, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua during the illness of late President Umar Yar’adua. It was his response to the minister frontline antagonism to Yar’Ardua’s continued stay in office despite his prolonged sickness.
Prof. Sam Oyovbaire is Director, Policy and Strategy. Oyovbaire, 65, was Minister of Information in 1992 while Adedoyin was Minister of State for Health in 2003. Oyovbaire read Political Science and was lecturer in universities of Ibadan and Benin.
Prof. A. B. C. Nwosu,former Minister of Health is Director, Research and Planning. Prof. A B C Nwosu, 64, from Anambra State is the Director of Research in the Babangida Campaign. Nwosu was Minister for Health under the Obasanjo regime between 1999 and 2003. He is a First Class medical doctor who lectured at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He was PDP gubernatorial aspirant in Anambra state in 1999.
Chief (Mrs) Oluremi Adiukwu, former gubernatorial candidate in Lagos state is Director of Women Affairs. Mr. Musa Elayo, a former Minister of State for Justice, is Director, Legal Service.
Alhaji Farouk Bibi-Farouk is the Director, Youth Affairs. Bibi-Farouk, a former Youth leader of the PDP, was educated at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria and lectured at the University of Abuja. He has worked extensively as a politician engaged in youth mobilisation.
Prince Kassim Sule Afegbua, who served as Chief Press Secretary to the Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomole, hails from Edo State has served Babangida as spokesperson. He attended the Obafemi Awolowo University, the Nigerian Institute of Journalism and the Les Aspin Centre for Government, Marquette University, U.S.A. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Language and post graduate diplomas in Public Relations and Journalism amongst others.





Atiku’s campaign team
Ahead of his formal declaration of intent on Sunday, August 15, 2010 in Abuja, the Atiku campaign office told Peoples Daily Weekend that the former vice president would be throwing a big challenge to other contenders as his ambition to rule Nigeria was policy-based and not on account of his being from the North, Niger Delta or elsewhere.
At the well attended event, Atiku re-visited the blueprint he prepared in 2007 as encapsulated in his policy document titled “from Reform to Prosperity,” which contains the broad and sectoral Policy Thrust of the Atiku Abubakar Presidency of Nigeria.
It is based on the premise that the Federal Government would be most effective by concentrating on a few priority areas of the economy. It believes that ultimately, Government must be remembered for some tangible achievements, and that for an Atiku government, this would be targeting initiatives that aimed at unleashing the potentials inherent in the Nigerian economy.
The 83-page document focuses on five key areas where the Federal Government can have significant and long-lasting impact on the lives of Nigerians and the areas identified as “National Emergencies (requiring immediate interventions) are Employment Generation and Wealth creation; Security/War against Corruption/Democracy and Good Governance; Energy and Infrastructural Development; Education and; the Niger Delta.
In addition, the Atiku campaign team had identified some key priorities, which it believed, would feed into and engage the resolution of national emergencies. These include Reforming the Reforms (Macro-Economic Stability and Consolidation), Agriculture/Food Security, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and, Housing.
Early this week, the Atiku campaign organization reacted sharply to the view by Vice-President Namadi Sambo that the aspirant was insisting on zoning of the presidency to the north for selfish reasons. “Atiku has established over the years that his politics is not determined by personal ambition but national interest,” said the campaign organization.
It further said, “In 1999, he stepped down for the late Chief MKO Abiola at the Jos Convention of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP). That could not have been out of personal interest;
“In 1999, when he mobilized elected governors to support the candidature of former President Olusegun Obsasanjo and ensured the realization of power shift to the South to assuage the feelings of marginalization in the Southern parts of the country, it was not borne out of personal ambition;
“In 2003, when almost all the PDP governors urged him to contest the presidential race against Obasanjo, he resisted the pressure on the grounds of power shift to the South, it was not out of personal interest.
“Where were these new found patriots when Atiku made all these sacrifices for national unity and democracy in the country.”
Chris Mammah, the Publisher of TheWeek Magazine and former President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), is the Director-General of the Atiku campaign organization. Mammah, 50, was President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in 1982, Deputy Editor of Punch Newspapers where he detained for his coverage of the Gideon Orkar coup in 1990.
He ventured into political strategy and communication consultancy after leaving Punch. He was Strategy Adviser to late Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua as SDP presidential aspirant, Communication Strategy Adviser to Chief M.K.O. Abiola as SDP candidate, Adviser to Atiku Abubakar as gubernatorial as gubernatorial candidate in Adamawa state, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as Senatorial Candidate in the SDP and Senator Iyorcha Ayu as Senate President, among many others. Mammah, described as self effusive and a silent operator if from Delta State in the South- South Geo-political Zone like Dokpesi.



Mallam Bashir Yussuf is Deputy Director General Operations. Bashir Yussuf, one of Kanti Bello’s equivalents in the Atiku Campaign Organisation, is 49 from Kano State. He was educated in Nigeria and overseas and has extensive exposure to campaign management training in the United States and Great Britain. He has a career spanning journalism, management, oil and gas business and politics. He was Editor of The Nation Newspaper and served as Special Assistant to former President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2003 and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from 2003 to 2007.
Dr. Andy Okoh is Deputy Director General, Administration and Finance. His counterpart, Dr. Andy Okoli from Imo state is 50 years old. He made a first class degree in Sociology at the University of Jos, and hold a doctorate degree from the University of Toronto, Canada. He lectured at the University of Toronto and Columbia University, United States.
Mr. Bode Ojomu is the head of the Youth department. A former President of the Student Union Government of the University of Ibadan, he was Deputy Publicity Secretary of the PDP. Ojomu, 51, is from Kwara state. Ojomu read Language and Communication Arts and holds a masters in International Law and Diplomacy. He was Director of Media in the Bukola Saraki Campaign Organisation in 2003 before becoming the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP in 2005.
Garba Shehu is Director, Media and Publicity. Garba Shehu from Kano State read Mass Communication at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He worked in the NTA and Triumph Newspaper rising rapidly to become the Managing Director of the newspaper. He was President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors.

Dr. Onukaba Ojo is the Director, Special Duties.
Dr. Adeolu Akandeis Director, Research and Planning. Adeolu Akande, Atiku Campaign’s Director of Research is 45 and hails from Oyo State. He read Political Science at the University of Ibadan where he also lectured after bagging his doctorate in Political Science. He worked as a journalist with the Nigerian Tribune and Punch Newspapers before returning to the University of Ibadan to teach Political Science. He served as a Special Assistant (Research and Strategy) to Atiku Abubakar as Vice President.
Princess Funk Adedoyin is director of strategy. Adedoyin, who read Business Administration in the United Kingdom, was Director in Doyin Investments and Alumni of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru (NIPSS).
Timi Frank is Director, Niger Delta Affairs.

Gov. Shekarau’s campaign team:
It is difficult to talk about Shekarau’s presidential campaign team because of the instability in the organization. Only a few days ago, Alhaji Bolaji Kalil who had been the Director-General of the team, was removed. A new Director-General was being awaited at the time of this report.
Other members of the campaign team include Bala Mohammed (Director of Media), Chief Nnamdi Olabara, Director of Strategy and Mallam Sule Ya’u Sule, Deputy Director of Media.

Postcript:
The two campaigns apparently picked their helmsmen from the South-South to underscore the fact that the zone is not entirely with President Jonathan Goodluck.
Babangida has brought his old associates who worked with him when he was military president. The same goes for Atiku who has picked many of those who worked with him as Vice President.
The two campaign teams parade men with solid academic backgrounds and requisite experience. But while Babangida seems to be more at home with old politicians and government appointees.
Atiku parades more young men and technocrats. Babangida’s team is mostly in their sixties with the exception of Kassim Afegbua and Bibi Forouk while Atiku’s men are mostly in their mid-forties and early fifties. This will most certainly affect how the campaigns handle the rising issue of generational shift. Atiku has reinforced his track record of promoting fresh, young faces. Under Obasanjo, he took credit for bringing young technocrats like Nasir el-Rufai, Nuhu Ribadu, Prof Charles Soludo, Funke Adedoyin and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Babangida, on the other hand, has reinforced the popular perception that if he returns to power , it will be with his horde of ex-this and ex-that.
Atiku has a Director for the Niger Delta in the person of Timi Frank from Bayelsa state while Babangida has none. Atiku builds on his proposal 2007 proposal to create a Ministry of Niger Delta. Babangida does not have a Director for the Niger Delta, which perhaps highlights the premium he places on the issue of the area.

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