The inclusion of the Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), Zacch Adedeji, and the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Taminu Yakubu, in the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council for the 2027 election has sparked criticism, with former Kogi West Senator Dino Melaye threatening legal action over Adedeji’s appointment.
The APC had on Saturday unveiled its 108-member Presidential Campaign Council for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid, naming Tinubu as chairman, Vice President Kashim Shettima as Vice Chairman I and APC National Chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda, as Vice Chairman II.
Former Zamfara State Governor Abdulaziz Yari was named Director-General of the council, while Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma was appointed Secretary.
Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun was named Director of Fundraising, while Adedeji was appointed Deputy Director of Fundraising. Yakubu was named Treasurer.
Reacting to the composition of the council, former Kogi West senator and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dino Melaye, said he would challenge Adedeji’s appointment in court, arguing that his role as head of the country’s revenue service could conflict with his campaign responsibilities.
Melaye, who spoke in a video posted on his official X account on Sunday, questioned the decision to appoint a serving public official to a partisan campaign position.
“And the most important aspect of the list that was released by the APC is to see the Chairman of FIRS—the body that collects our revenue as a nation—the Chairman of FIRS is the Deputy Director … for fundraising for Tinubu’s presidential campaign,” he said.
Adedeji heads the Nigeria Revenue Service, formerly known as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
Melaye said the appointment raised questions about conflict of interest and compliance with the Public Service Rules and public service ethics.
“As a lawyer, by the grace of God, on Monday, I’m going to court. We have to test that,” he said.
He added that Adedeji, as a serving public official, was expected to comply with the rules governing public service conduct.
“If that is not conflict of interest, I don’t know what else it would be,” Melaye said, adding that he would continue to oppose Tinubu’s re-election bid.
Melaye also criticised the decision to make Tinubu chairman of his own campaign council, describing the arrangement as unprecedented and “disgraceful.”
He questioned why the presidential candidate would also head the campaign council and alleged that the arrangement suggested a lack of confidence within the ruling party.
The former senator also described the 108-member council as “very, very, very bogus.”
Meanwhile, Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso, vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), also faulted the inclusion of Adedeji and Yakubu in the campaign council.
Kwankwaso said the appointments undermined the institutional neutrality of the agencies headed by the two officials, particularly given their responsibilities for public revenue and national finances.
“The leadership of critical public institutions demands neutrality, integrity and public confidence. It is therefore legitimate to ask whether the responsibilities of senior officials entrusted with managing public revenue and national finances can appropriately coexist with senior partisan campaign roles,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
He said the composition of the campaign council should concern Nigerians, particularly amid economic hardship, unemployment, insecurity and pressure on essential public services.
Kwankwaso also appealed to Yari to reconsider his acceptance of the Director-General position, arguing that the former Zamfara governor understood the security and economic challenges facing the North-West and the country.
“I therefore will be surprised if, in his good conscience, he will lead a campaign whose principal objective is to secure the continuation of a government under which many of the people he once governed, and other innocent Nigerians, remain trapped in these challenges,” he said.
Kwankwaso described the 2027 election as a contest between Nigerians facing hardship and those he accused of benefiting from the existing system.
He urged Nigerians to reject what he described as “continued oppression” and demand accountable and people-oriented governance.
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