Lawan and Kalu have been friends right from their days at the University of Maiduguri.
By Emma Ogbuehi
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, on Thursday constituted his presidential campaign team with the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, calling the shots as the Director General.
This is coming ahead of the primaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) scheduled to hold on Saturday.
The ruling party will pick its presidential candidate for the 2023 presidential election at the Special Convention.
Ahmad is one of the 23 presidential aspirants the ruling party screened for the contest.
The Senate President, in announcing the composition of the various committees, said they would help strengthen his campaign base and the realisation of his presidential ambition.
In the Committees composed by the Ahmad Lawan’s Central Campaign Organisation, the Senate Chief Whip and former Governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (APC, Abia North) has been named the Director- General.
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Lawan and Kalu have been friends right from their days at the University of Maiduguri.
When the courts jailed Kalu for corruption before the case judgment was reversed on technical grounds, Lawan refused to declare his Senate seat vacant while his friend was serving his jail term.
The announcement of the Director-General and Chairmen of eight Committees of the Campaign Organisation was made after a meeting that was held in Abuja which was well attended by members.
The team met behind closed doors to fine tune strategies and consolidate on the gains made so far.
Lawan’s team led by Kalu is expected to strengthen the campaign organization and build a stronger cohesion that would deliver APC ticket to the Senate President during the presidential primaries, and ultimately lead him to victory in the general election.
The names of Chairmen of the eight committees include: Finance and Budget with Auwal Lawan as Chairman and Senator Sani Musa, APC, Niger East as Co- Chairman; Strategy and Planning has Senator Ikechukwu Obiora as Chairman and Senator Betty Apiafi as Deputy Chairman; Contact and Mobilization has Senator Barau Jibrin as Chairman and Senator Peter Nwaoboshi as Deputy Chairman.
Others are Media and Publicity with the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi as Chairman and former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani Kayode as Deputy Chairman; Security and Intelligence has former Director-General, Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura, as Chairman and Commodore Mohammed Barau (retd) as Deputy Chairman.
Others are Transport and Logistics with Senator Bello Mandiya as Chairman and Hon. Hillary Bisong as Deputy Chairman; Youth Groups has Prince Mustapha Audu as Chairman while Women Groups has Hon. Aisha Ismail as the Chairperson.
