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As Fintiri, ministers visit party’s national headquarters
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nantawe Yilwatda, has said members of the ruling party are very happy that the opposition parties were unable to organise themselves to compete favourably for elections.
Yilwatda spoke when he hosted the governor of Adamawa state, Ahmadu Fintiri, who paid his first official visit to the party’s national leadership at its headquarters in Abuja yesterday.
Responding to a question on whether APC will have opposition to confront during the 2027 presidential election,he said: “It is not our duty to organise the opposition. It is the duty of the opposition to organise themselves. And we are very happy if they can’t organise themselves because our duty is to ensure we win the election. We can’t go and start organising, funding and building the opposition.
“It is a competition. We are presenting our scorecard to Nigerians. Nigerians everywhere believe in us. And you can see that across the country, all the elections that we have conducted, the by-elections, the off-season elections, APC has been winning left, right and center.
“So, what they keep on saying is that Nigerians are against APC, who are the Nigerians? These same governors. These same voters. These same ordinary persons in society are the Nigerians. And we believe that Nigerians love the APC.
“They love Mr. President. And we will soon, back in 2027, sustain the impact of the Renewal Agenda on the Nigerian economy and the Nigerian people,” he said.
Earlier, he had received four ministers comprising Atiku Bagudu, Budget and National Planning, Wale Edun, Wale Edun, Finance and Coordinating Economy, Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim, Women Affairs Minister, and Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, Foreign Affairs and Hadiza Bala Usman, Special Adviser.
Commenting on their visit, Yilwatda said: “It is clear synergy. We want to create a clear synergy between the party and the executive. We want to ensure that because they are implementing the policies of the party, the promises we make to the people.
“We have a social contract between the people of Nigeria and the party. And we are ensuring that we supervise our side functions to ensure that all those promises that we committed ourselves to the people are being implemented.
“We are refreshing what has been done, what has not been done, how it can be done, and what we have done in excess. I think basically that was just why the Ministers were around for us to have that little chat together,” he explained.
Governor Fintiri said the visit was to show that they have fully aligned with the APC because it is a home return for most of them.
“I am here officially to pay a courtesy call on the national chairman and the members of the NWC. To further pledge my full loyalty to the party and to assure them that we have come to work and ensure that we also deliver on the electoral value.
“We want to show that we have come with it to the party in the next general election. And that is what matters to our party, the APC, the largest opposition, the PDP as it were, seems to be depleted now,” he said.
Asked if the APC would have an opposition in the 2027 presidential election, Governor Fintiri said: “I think judging by the work done by Mr. President, he deserves a second term. I think it is going to be smooth, it is going to be accepted by all Nigerians. Because of the microeconomic policy that he initiated, yes, it was rough for most of us because we are not used to it. But it has given a very positive result to us and the country is really working in the right direction. It seems to be agreed by all of us that there is light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
