…Receives ADC candidates into APC
From Cyril Mbah, Abuja.
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda Goshwe, has berated opposition parties, particularly the African Democratic Congress, (ADC), for employing false propaganda to incite the northern population against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Professor Yilwatda made the remarks on Monday at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja while receiving a delegation of ADC House of Assembly candidates led by Princess Aslam Aliyu, also known as Gimbiyar Kauran Namoda (Princess of Kaura Namoda), who formally defected to the ruling party.
The APC Chairman said he was happy to receive young Nigerians, who have decided to buy into the government being provided at the national level and to join the progressive movement for 2027 and beyond.
He thanked them for believing in the party and for taking the bold step to abandon their personal ambitions to join the ruling party.
Yilwatda commended the defectors for resigning from their former party at the ward levels and presenting their resignation letters at the national secretariat, describing it as the first step and he stated that the second step is for them to return to their wards and register as full members of the APC.
He said the party deliberately chose to receive them at the National Secretariat because of the significance of their action, noting that they voluntarily left the contest, withdrew from their ambition and forfeited their personal interest for the overall interest of the nation, which he described as a big sacrifice for the country.
Addressing the propaganda being peddled on some Hausa radio programmes by the opposition, Yilwatda dismissed claims that President Tinubu does not like the North and is only constructing roads in the South.
He questioned where the North being referred to is located, since he and many northern leaders are part of the north.
The APC National Chairman listed numerous road projects to counter the claims, stating that the Abuja to Kano road which is 400 kilometres and the Kano to Maiduguri road which is 500 kilometres alone account for almost 1,000 kilometres, with the Abuja-Kano section nearly completed and the Maiduguri-Kano section almost 50 percent completed.
He added that other ongoing projects include the Abuja-Lokoja road, Abuja-Benue, Abuja-Akwanga, Jos-Akwanga, Kwara-Mokwa in Niger, Sokoto-Kebbi, Zamfara-Leila in Sokoto, Kano-Daura, and Zaria-Danja roads, all under construction, asking rhetorically where the neglected North the opposition talks about is located.
Yilwatda further faulted the opposition’s promise to return fuel subsidy, asking how they intend to fund such a policy and he also said that returning subsidy would mean stopping all the road constructions, halting gas and fertilizer projects needed by northern farmers, stopping the Compressed Natural Gas initiative for cheaper transportation, and stopping the student loan scheme, whose beneficiaries are mostly from the North.
He recalled that as of 2023 when President Tinubu took over, about 30 states could not pay salaries, including all northern states, and asked whether the opposition wants those states to return to the era of unpaid salaries, gratuities and increased poverty that prevailed in the North.
The APC Chairman described President Tinubu as the most experienced and inclusive politician in Nigeria, citing how he built an accommodating Lagos where a Muslim from Kano served as local government chairman, an indigene of Anambra served as Commissioner for Budget, and northerners served as National Assembly members, unlike other presidential contenders who never appointed outsiders as commissioners in their states.
Earlier, the spokesperson of the defectors, Hon. Mohammed Hassan of ADC Zamfara, said they were not merely changing political platforms but beginning a new chapter of service by supporting President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda for 2027.
He pledged their commitment to support the APC, mobilize their people and promote development, while asking the national leadership to receive them as brothers and partners.
