The chairman of Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Nentawe Yilwatda, has rejected accusations that the party is fueling internal disputes within opposition parties or encouraging defections to weaken rivals before the 2027 general election.
Speaking in an interview on Channels Television on Tuesday, Yilwatda said claims by the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and other opposition leaders were unfounded, insisting that the APC had no involvement in the political movements of opposition figures.
Yilwatda argued that Obi’s record of changing political parties predates the current administration and could not be attributed to the APC.
He said, “Nobody in APC chased Peter Obi out of PDP. Nobody from APC chased Obi out of the Labour Party. Nobody in APC chased him out of the Labour Party to ADC or chased him out of ADC again to NDC.
“He started moving from his party long before now, during the time of President Jonathan in 2014. It means that APC has been the person chasing him from 2015 till date, when we were even opposition?
“When he left Labour Party, he moved to ADC. He came to ADC, he discovered that he couldn’t get an automatic ticket. That’s why he left to NDC. And in NDC now, he has gotten his ticket.
“If anyone wanted to destabilise Obi, we would have stopped him from getting a ticket if we were the people doing it. But we don’t have that control.”
The APC chairman said the ruling party had no role in the internal challenges affecting opposition groups, including the Labour Party and the African Democratic Congress (ADC), describing the crises as problems created from within.
He maintained that the opposition’s difficulties stem from its own internal decisions rather than interference from the governing party.
“This is a group of people who have a self-inflicted wound. Every day, they move from party to party,” Yilwatda said.
His remarks come amid growing political realignments and defections as parties position themselves ahead of the 2027 presidential election, with opposition leaders repeatedly accusing the APC of exploiting divisions within rival political organisations.
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