The claims by President Muhammadu Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress, that a key campaign document,
“My Covenant With Nigerians” did not emerge from them is false and misleading, a PREMIUM TIMES investigation has shown.
Extensive checks by this newspaper showed that not only was the document circulated in the run-up to the April 11 presidential election by staff of Mr. Buhari’s campaign organization, the literature was also extensively
promoted by party officials, including using the APC website to do so.
It was the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity,
Garba Shehu, who kicked off the campaign of distancing the APC and Mr.
Buhari from two of the key campaign documents that apparently swayed a lot of
votes for the president and his party.
In a widely circulated opinion article published on August 28, Mr. Shehu wrote, “In the course of electioneering, the presidential campaign had
so many centres of public communication
which, for whatever reason, were on the loose.
“There is a certain document tagged ‘One
Hundred Things Buhari Will Do in 100 Days’
and the other, ‘My Covenant With Nigerians’.
Both pamphlets bore the authorized party logo
but as the Director of Media and
Communications in that campaign, I did not
fund or authorize any of those. I can equally bet
my last kobo that candidate Buhari did not see
or authorize those publications.
“As a consequence of these publications,
expectations have been raised unreasonably,
that as President, Muhammadu Buhari will wave
his hand and all the problems that the country
faces- insecurity, corruption, unemployment,
poor infrastructure – would go away.”
On Monday, the National Publicity Secretary for
the APC, Lai Mohammed, picked the baton from
where Mr. Shehu dropped it. Speaking during
an interview with Channels Television, Mr.
Mohammed said President Buhari and the party
had nothing to do with any other campaign
materials apart from the APC manifesto and
constitution.
“Buhari never promised to do anything in 100
days, that’s the honest truth,” Mr. Mohammed.
“You see, when you are running a campaign, all
kinds of literature will emerge from all sorts of
groups but there are only two documents that
you can judge a party with: That is the
constitution of the party and the manifesto of
the party.
“Those are the only two documents that are
registered with the Independent National
Electoral Commission; you can go to court or
hold a party accountable for them.”
Both officials spoke just as Nigerians began the
countdown to Mr. Buhari’s first 100 days in
office with conversations going on over whether
the president and his party were on the path to
delivering the “change” they promised. Mr.
Buhari would be 100-day old in office on
Saturday, September 5.
But investigations by this newspaper showed
that by disowning the “My Covenant With
Nigerians” document, President Buhari and his
party were likely being dishonest and deceitful.
While a volunteer group backed by the party
and the presidential campaign may have
produced the document on ‘One Hundred
Things Buhari Will Do in 100 Days’, PREMIUM
TIMES can authoritatively report that the policy
and research directorate of the APC presidential
campaign, headed by former Governor Kayode
Fayemi, produced the covenant document.
Mr. Fayemi could not be reached for comments
Tuesday. His aides say he is travelling in Cote
D’ivoire with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Party insiders said the document, which
harmonised promises contained in the party’s
manifesto and various campaign speeches by
Mr. Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo,
was produced after rigorous and extensive
deliberation with top campaign officials and the
president himself.
After the president signed off on the final
version of the covenant, insiders say, the
document was emailed to journalists at the time
by well-known campaign staff charged with
circulating publicity materials for the
organization during the period.
For instance, Egghead Odewale, who worked at
the headquarters of the presidential campaign
in Abuja, sent a PDF version of the document to
PREMIUM TIMES on March 12.
Apparently concerned that the document was
not getting enough publicity, another campaign
official emailed a word version to reporters on
March 16.
Newspapers and websites thereafter ran several
stories on the document.
Vanguard’s version of the report, entitled “ My
contract with Nigeria – Buhari” was later
republished by the APC on its website at 8:52
a.m on March 17.
Story on “My Covenant With Nigeria”
republished by APC website
The then Lagos governor, Babatunde Fashola,
who was in charge of fundraising for the
campaign, delivered a campaign speech on
March 23, where he clearly referred to the
document.
“The APC is proud to have as its flag-bearer, a
patriot with the public stature and integrity of
Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, who has
unreservedly committed to this vision and
mission as reflected in his Covenant with
Nigerians and campaigns promises,” Mr. Fashola
said at a meeting of APC governors at the
Banquet Hall of the Imo State Government
House, Owerri.
“It is not by accident that teeming millions of
Nigerians are showing their support effusively
for Gen. Buhari.”
PREMIUM TIMES can also report that “The
Covenant With Nigeria” was also one of the
documents the Ahmed Joda-led Transition
Committee used in producing an 800-page
report detailing swift steps Mr. Buhari must take
to fix Nigeria.
The volume of the report that dealt with social
issues repeatedly referred to the document now
being disowned.
For instance, in a subsection on environment
and climate change, the committee reminded the
president of his promises as contained in “The
Covenant With Nigerians”, and then proceeded
to make recommendations.
A page of the report of the Ahmed Joda-led
Transition Committee
Mr. Buhari accepted the committee’s report
without any complaint, and promised to
implement the recommendations.
But when contacted Tuesday, Mr. Shehu insisted
the party and the campaign had no knowledge
of the document.
He quoted the president as saying he would not
engage in deception, and would never allow
himself to be tagged with a document he had no
knowledge of.
Background
In signing off on the 16-page document, Mr.
Buhari said in an introductory note, “This
covenant is to outline my agenda for Nigeria
and provide a bird’s eye view of how we intend
to bring about the change that our country
needs and deserves.
“The covenant is derived from the manifesto of
my party, the All Progressives Congress. It
however represents my pledge to you all when I
become your president.”
Mr. Buhari now appeared challenged delivering
on the promises contained in the covenant, and
his team has been battling to disown the
document.
For instance, the document quoted the then
presidential candidate as promising to publicly
declare his assets and liabilities while also
encouraging his political appointees to do so. He
is yet to fulfill that promise.
