The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) on Tuesday launched the Crowdfund App to mobilise funds for its Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the app will afford Nigerians the opportunity to pull financial resources to support Tinubu and Shettima to prosecute campaign activities ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Unveiling the app in Lagos, the APC Vice Presidential Candidate, Shettima, said that Tinubu/Shettima Crowdfunding Application was to enable supporters to make donations towards the campaign as part of efforts to make people take ownership of the party.
Shettima, who spoke on behalf of Tinubu, described the APC candidate as an innovative politician of the time, with intellectual sophistication and the ability to keep promises.
Commending the Fund Raising Committee, Shettima said that such a platform had transformed ownership of the political movement to the people by contributing their hard-earned resources to become co-drivers and make it their business to promote the ideals of the campaign.
Shettima said that politicians in some developed nations like United States of America also raised political campaign funds from small donors to energise support base.
According to him, the platform is also to assess the acceptance of politicians’ political agenda among political supporters.
Shettima said: “It is also to break new grounds in political mobilisation.
“Our Presidential flag-bearer, fondly called Asiwaju or Jagaban, is by every standard a global citizen, is quietly influencing people and materials in Africa and many parts of the world through his transformational schemes as a governor of Lagos State.”
He said that Tinubu remained a charismatic leader whose ideas would continue to be a reference point many years.
“Our ticket is poised to modernise and expand public infrastructure; make healthcare, education, and funding accessible to all for the manufacturing sector.
It also seeks to improve national security and build a Nigeria, especially for our youths via sufficient jobs with decent wages, and to prepare a better life for our people.
“Prior to our campaign, we have been overwhelmed by supporters looking to contribute their quotas and ideas, and now we have a platform to ensure that no one is left out,” he said.
According to him, the mandate the duo of them are seeking is to make Nigeria a better place for all.
He said that Tinubu’s many innovative schemes had transformed and provided leadership in the state and Nigeria with verifiable records.
He sought support to ensure that adequate funds were raised for the entire electioneering with maintaining highest form of moral standard and adherence to laid down law and regulations.
“With innovation like this, everyone will be given the opportunity and due recognition to contribute to the growth and development of our country,” he said.
The Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said the application was another way of using technology to support the Tinubu and Shettima candidacy.
Sanwo-Olu described app as novel and unique, saying “there is no better idea than to use technology.
“Today, technology is a unifier and one means that has provided a unique platform for everyone to engage and to collaborate. I am happy and excited that you have also brought that initiative to Lagos for it to be launched.
“This is not only unique, it is first-in- class and speaks to an opportunity for all of our supporters to have an input into it. This is about them, this is for them, this is their campaign.
“This should be our own individual commitment to show that we believe in this project and committed to it.”
He said Tinubu and Shettima would help further deepen and shape the cause of Nigeria.
According to him, the duo had been proven, tested and done creditably well to move the country forward and make it stand in the comity of nations.
“This is not about them (Tinubu/Shettima); it is about the future, it’s about the opportunity that this team presents and what they are bringing to table which is tried and tested in building men and institutions.
“These are truly tested men that can indeed take our country and our economy to an enviable position,” Sanwo-Olu said.
NAN reports that stakeholders in the party at the unveiling of the app began to make donations towards the campaign, targeting N5 billion.
While Sanwo-Olu donated N2 million, Shettima gave N1 million through the app and others followed suit.
(NAN)
