The newly appointed Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nentawe Yilwatda, has confidently declared that there is currently no effective opposition in Nigeria, downplaying the strength of major opposition parties like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), and African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Yilwatda made this assertion shortly after his emergence as the ruling party’s chairman, expressing zero fears about the opposition coalition champion on the ADC platform.
According to Yilwatda, the APC’s dominance is evident in its landslide victories in recent by-elections, which he believes demonstrate the party’s strength.
He also pointed to the APC’s success in the post-2023 off-season governorship polls in Edo, Ondo, Kogi, and Imo states, where the party won all four governorship elections.
Yilwatda boasted that the APC would win the next presidential election, citing the party’s current control of 23 states, while PDP rules 10 states, and LP, NNPP, and APGA control one state each.
The new APC National chairman plans to build on the party’s success by investing in legwork to attract more governors from opposition parties, particularly the PDP. “My job is to unite the party and expand the party,” he said, adding that the APC would leverage the experience of its predecessors, including Abdullahi Ganduje, Adams Oshiomhole, Abdullahi Adamu, and Mai Mala Buni, to steer the party to victory.
Yilwatda’s confidence stems from his diverse experience as a registered engineer, former lecturer, ex-Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC, and Humanitarian Affairs Minister.
“I’m a politician coming in with private sector experience, university experience, administrative experience, election processes experience, and now with the political experience to gear the wheel of the party,” he said.
Two governors, Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State and Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State, have already defected from the PDP to the APC in 2025, further bolstering the party’s strength.
According to Yilwatda, his immediate priority is to unite the party and implement its manifesto to the fullest, with the goal of winning the 2027 general elections.
