The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress(APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, has said the ruling party is not worried about the exploits of the Nigerian Democratic lCongress(NDC) as it poses ppp0awmakers into its folds.
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But fielding questions after inspecting the sales and submissions of forms by aspirants in the party in Abuja on Wednesday, Yilwatda said those joining NDC were not APC members but those of other opposition parties.
“What do you call a shocker? You said 17 lawmakers out of 469. Seventeen out of 469 is less than 5 per cent. Should I be worried about that? I am not worried.
“You talked about NDC. When people join APC, they say we paid them to come but when people defect among themselves, they don’t say anything. None of those defecting is from our party. They are fishing from the same pond.
“If someone defects from ADC to NDC, NDC opposition party, how does that affect APC? It doesn’t. Let them sort out their problems. APC is still solid, still united, and we are moving forward with strong numbers,” he said.
Yilwatda also said the large turn out of aspirants who were purchasing and submitting APC expression of interest and nomination forms showed the legitimacy of the party among Nigerians.
He also disclosed that there will be no extension of the sales and submissions of forms, saying the party is putting in place measures to ensure seamless screening exercise.
“Nigerians are happy with what APC is doing. They love the party, they accept the party, and the party cuts across all the geopolitical zones of Nigeria.
“We’re also happy that our party is widely accepted by people. You could see the people coming in to buy our forms and how organised all the sections are.
“The party is too organised for what we are seeing. You can’t see this level of organisation, logistics, and preparation in any party in Nigeria this can only be APC.
“We extended the days for people to collect forms, yet you are still seeing that crowd coming in. If you leave the sale of forms for APC for the next one month, Nigerians will still come and buy the forms of APC.
“We are time-bound. We would have loved to extend it, but we are time-bound. The Electoral Act also limits the timeline that we have to conduct our primaries and submit them. We also want to give ourselves some time so that we don’t fall into any trap in any form.
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“For the screening, we have also put measures in place so that we can reduce the crowd and ensure that it is seamless. While it is good to have a crowd around the party to show presence, dominance, and mobilisation, this in itself is mobilisation. Just imagine the thousands of people coming in here every day—it shows acceptance.
“If any Nigerian sees these numbers and compares them with other party secretariats, you won’t see one-tenth of this number anywhere else. It shows the level of preparation of our aspirants. It means they are deep-rooted and acceptable to society.
“Our aspirants are also in large numbers, and when you aggregate these numbers, you can be sure that APC will win most of the seats in this country.
“We are not belittling the opposition, but check what they are doing. Just yesterday, I listened to the fight between opposition leaders—they are breaking into pieces, and I’m sure they will blame us for their internal crisis.
“They are insulting themselves. Nigerians are seeing that the fight is not APC versus opposition; it is opposition versus opposition. One group is calling another corrupt and refusing to be part of it, while another group says some people cannot withstand competition and want free tickets elsewhere.
“But in APC, even with the charges, people are still coming in large numbers to buy forms. We did not increase our fees; we maintained them, yet people are coming in droves.
“We opened up our party. People are not hiding forms—everyone is buying, including the presidential ticket. We have a sitting President, yet people are buying forms to contest against him. We allowed it.
“We opened our party for competition. Sitting governors are being challenged; senators are being challenged. Even the Senate President and the Speaker are being challenged. The level of democracy in APC is second to none,” he added.
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