The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has said the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) poses no serious challenge to the ruling party ahead of the 2027 general election.
Yilwatda made the remark on Tuesday while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he downplayed the political strength of key figures driving the opposition coalition under the ADC.
“ADC is not a match at all for the APC. For every one person they have, we have five, six of them,” he said.
He also dismissed the political weight of some opposition leaders, including the ADC national chairman and former Senate President, David Mark.
“If they have David Mark as former Senate President, we have Ahmad Lawan, we have two former Senate Presidents from the South East,” Yilwatda added.
The APC chairman rejected claims that the ruling party was under pressure or threatened by the growing opposition coalition, insisting that the party was not forcing civil servants to join its ranks.
“We have never asked anybody, we have never appealed to any civil servant. Nobody has forced any civil servant in a letter, verbal — you can bring one video to that effect and I will apologise,” he said.
He further suggested that allegations of forced recruitment were politically motivated.
“Maybe the opposition is forcing civil servants so they will have numbers,” he added.
Yilwatda also said the APC was not worried by the calibre of opposition leaders reportedly aligning with the ADC, including former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, former Anambra State governor and 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, as well as former Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola.
According to him, the steady influx of governors from opposition parties into the APC is evidence that the ruling party remains the political force to beat.
In a separate recent interview on Trust TV, Yilwatda had accused opposition parties of relying more on media appearances than grassroots mobilisation.
“Opposition parties spend more time on TV talking,” he said.
“It’s not our duty to help our enemies to grow. We can’t feed our enemies. It’s not our duty. They should labour, they should go to the streets,” he added.
Yilwatda said the APC’s political strength was built largely through behind-the-scenes mobilisation across states, rather than public commentary on television.
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