The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has restricted official public communication on behalf of President Bola Tinubu’s re-election campaign to three designated officials.
The decision followed a restructuring of the council’s Directorate of Media and Strategic Communications, aimed at ensuring coordinated messaging and greater discipline in public engagement.
Chief of Staff to the President and Deputy Director-General (Administration) of the campaign council, Femi Gbajabiamila, announced the changes in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Under the new arrangement, only the council’s Director-General, Senator Abdulaziz Yari; Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake; and Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, are authorised to speak officially on behalf of the campaign.
Gbajabiamila explained that all individuals previously announced as spokespersons would now serve as members of the Directorate of Media and Strategic Communications.
He also urged media organisations, particularly radio and television stations, to comply with the revised arrangement, noting that the campaign council would designate appropriate representatives for media appearances when necessary.
The development comes barely a day after a controversial television interview involving Alwan Hassan, an APC campaign spokesperson, on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
During the interview, Hassan challenged the programme’s anchor, Seun Okinbaloye, to test Nigeria’s 112 emergency number to demonstrate its functionality.
However, repeated attempts to reach the emergency line during the live broadcast were unsuccessful, prompting questions about its effectiveness.
Hassan attributed the failed calls to a possible network problem, while the presenter expressed reservations about the explanation.
Although Gbajabiamila did not directly link the latest restructuring to the television interview, the announcement came less than 24 hours after the incident.
The new arrangement effectively narrows the campaign council’s official communication channels, with other previously designated spokespersons retaining their positions as members of the media and strategic communications directorate.
