APC labels PDP Nigeria’s main opposition, says NDC, ADC at loggerheads
By Omeiza Ajayi
The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has declared the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the country’s main opposition, dismissing the National Democratic Congress, NDC, as an inconsequential force despite its recent decision to zone its presidential ticket to the South.
APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, speaking with journalists on Saturday on the sidelines of the party’s governorship screening exercise in Abuja, said the NDC’s move posed no threat whatsoever to the ruling party.
“Not at all. Why should we be afraid?. If you look at it now, the fight is not between APC and ADC or within our political party, but ADC versus NDC. So we have been vindicated when people say that APC was fighting opposition. Now everybody has seen clearly that it is the opposition fighting themselves,” he said.
Nentawe dismissed both the ADC and NDC on electoral grounds, saying neither had won any by-election.
He said, “The major opposition we have is actually PDP. And even the PDP has not done very well in terms of electoral performance. Performance is not on TV, it is not on radio; it is in newspaper, it is on the field during election.”
When pressed on reports of legislators defecting to the NDC, the chairman was unmoved. “Who are the members? What number are you talking about? 17 legislators. We have over 400 legislators. Compared to 17, it is just a meagre number,” he declared.
Yilwatda said 31 governors remained intact within the party, alongside over 600 local government chairmen. “APC is the most prepared, most outstanding political party that right now can face anybody on earth. We have not seen a party that can give us a headache.”
On the absence of the Rivers State governor from the day’s screening, Nentawe pushed back against the question, noting that three governors in total had not appeared — Rivers, Kwara and Ebonyi — and declined to single any one of them out.
He said governors, as chief executives and commanders of their states, had legitimate state responsibilities that could keep them away, and that the party had made allowances for them.
“Anytime you (governors) are free, you call the screening committee, we will give you a room, you come at your will and convenience, and we will screen you,” he said.
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