Mass defections reflect opposition weakness, not APC pressure – Ahmed

By Lawrence Agbo

The Chairman of the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas (Pi-CNG) and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ismaeel Ahmed, has said the wave of defections to the ruling party reflects the weakness of opposition parties rather than any deliberate attempt by the ruling party to lure politicians.

Ahmed made the remark during an appearance on Politics Today on Channels Television, where he dismissed claims that the APC was actively working to weaken opposition parties through mass defections.

According to him, the ruling party is not deliberately seeking out politicians from rival parties, stressing that many of those switching allegiance are doing so because they see little strength or direction within their former political platforms.

“We don’t go out of our way looking for people to come just because they want to defect or we want to weaken the opposition,” Ahmed said.

He argued that the steady stream of politicians leaving opposition parties points to deeper structural problems within those parties, which he described as “unbelievably weak.”

“I thought personally that the opposition was just “unbelievably weak,” he added.

Ahmed maintained that the APC remains focused on governance rather than political manoeuvring, adding that the decision of individuals to join the ruling party is largely driven by their personal political calculations.