Why opposition can’t displace APC, by Yilwatda

The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has said that the ruling party would continue to wax stronger because of its formidable structure, dynamic leadership, loyal followership and effective crisis resolution mechanism.

He said opposion parties, individually or collectively, lack these essential ingredients of party growth, cohesion and stability.

Yilwatda, who spoke with reporters in Lagos, paid tribute by the founding fathers of the APC, particularly the national leader, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for his pioneering stabilising roles, noting that the opposition is not blessed with that type of rallying point.

Reminiscening on the role the president played in the life of APC in 2014/15, he said:”President Tinubu was the rallying point for APC. He put in his money and connection at no interest. Everybody called him leader. You can’t find that in the coalition.

“Everybody in the coalition is looking for the ticket. This is the difference between APC and the opposition.”

Yilwatda added:”Asiwaju Tinubu has built the party and everybody see him as leader. We have that huge respect for the true and focussed leader, an intelligent leader.”

The chairman, who noted that Nigeria is stabilising under the Tinubu administration, urged the media to always rise in defense of popular rule.

In his view, the country can no longer fall victim of military dictatorship.

Yilwatda said APC knows the feeling of Nigerians and the Federal Government it midwifed is working assiduously to meet pubic expectation.

Defending the economic reforms of the administration, the professor of Computer Engineering said:”If fuel subsidy was not removed and forex was not floated, ways and means would have killed the country.”

He added: “Nigeria was on the verge of total economic collapse when President Tinubu came in. Now, $45 billion of foreign reserve has been attained. Nigeria is becoming productive, doing more of exports, meaning that we are improving.”

To Yilwatda, the APC governor is focussing on the poor, stressing that after verification, over six million people have benefitted from the conditional cash transfer.

He also explained that government now guarantees free treatment for tuberculosis anx snake bite.

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Yilwatda, a university don, praised President Tinubu for the students loan scheme, which allows the children of the poor to have access to education.

He also commended the government for fighting the infrastructure battle through massive road construction across the country.

However, Yilwatda pointed out that the factors that drive poverty reside in the states and local governments. The land for agriculture belongs to the state and the water board belong to the states and local governments.

Yilwatda drew attention to the fact that Nigeria now receive more revenue because the revenue-generating agencies are generating more money.

He said government is building schools under the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the aviation sector has been repositioned for better performance.

Yilwatda said pragmatic steps are being taken to tackle insecurity, adding that President Tinubu has shelved all engagements outside the country to attend to home affairs.

On the ambassadorial list, the chairman said many factors were taken into consideration by the president.

He explained:”Countries do make peculiar requests, e.g Saudi Arabia and the Vatican. Other factors are about the person; their networks, connections, friendly relations.”

According to the party chairman, APC is not about winning election alone; it is about serving Nigerians.

He said the party is expanding its coast ahead of 2027. The chairman hinted that Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang has finally indicated his interest in joining the APC, adding that he had discussed his defection with the President 

Yilwatda stressed:”We want to have the data of all APC members that are verifiable. We are building a democratically cohesive party with less crisis.

Recently, there have been complaints about the disqualification of governorship aspirants in Ekiti and Osun states to pave the way for consensus candidates.

Yilwatda said the nomination guidelines were clear, adding that APC cannot break its own rule.

He also said that the party is supreme and discipline would not be compromised.

Yilwatda stressed: “You have the guidelines that nomination forms should be taken to the local government and that five financial members should sign the forms. Some aspirants did not bother to let financial members sign their forms.

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“ In Ekiti, there was an aspirant who did not validate his membership of the party. In Osun, we have 90,000 members. We are updating the register.”