Stop Blaming APC!’ — Yilwatda Speaks On Peter Obi’s Political Moves

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nentawe Yilwatda, has rejected claims by the 2027 presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, and other opposition figures that the ruling party is fueling internal crises within opposition parties and encouraging defections to weaken its rivals ahead of the 2027 general election.

Speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Tuesday, Yilwatda argued that Obi’s movement across different political parties predates the current APC-led administration and therefore cannot be linked to the ruling party.

According to him, Obi has been changing political platforms since 2014 without any interference from the APC, insisting there is no effort by the party to push him out of the NDC.

“Nobody in the APC chased Peter Obi out of the PDP. Nobody in the APC forced him out of the Labour Party. Nobody in the APC pushed him from the Labour Party to the ADC or from the ADC to the NDC,” he said.

“He began moving from one party to another long before now, during President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in 2014. Does that mean the APC was responsible even when we were in the opposition?

“When he left the Labour Party, he joined the ADC. After discovering he could not secure an automatic ticket there, he moved to the NDC, where he eventually obtained the party’s presidential ticket.

“If anyone was truly trying to destabilise Peter Obi, we would have prevented him from getting a ticket. We do not have that kind of control.”

Yilwatda also dismissed allegations that the APC was responsible for the internal challenges facing the Labour Party, ADC and other opposition parties, describing the crises as self-inflicted.

“These are parties dealing with problems of their own making. They keep moving from one platform to another, and that is the real issue,” he added.