Yilwatda says defections reflect confidence in Tinubu’s policies, plays down internal rifts and street protests, and defends petrol price ceiling
By: Ganiyu Olayinka
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has rejected claims that the party is inducing opposition politicians to defect. He said the APC is “leading” ahead of the 2027 general election and that it is managing its internal disputes. He spoke in an interview with Seun Okinbaloye on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, which ClarityNewsNG monitored.
Defections and bribery allegations
The interview followed a ceremony at the APC national secretariat where new members were received. The defectors said they were not motivated by financial gain but by national unity.
Asked about allegations that the party pays defectors, with figures reportedly put at ₦5 billion for governors, ₦2 billion for senators and ₦1 billion for House of Representatives members, Yilwatda dismissed them as opposition propaganda. He said claims that governors were paid ₦200 billion each to defect would amount to trillions of Naira, which he said could not leave the economy unnoticed. He challenged his accusers to produce evidence and said the opposition had struggled to win even a ward chairmanship from the APC.
Pressed on whether defectors are seeking protection from prosecution, he said no one is shielded by joining the party. He argued that anyone not convicted is presumed innocent, and that APC members also face court proceedings. Challenged over a former Delta State governor whose case appeared to have gone quiet, he said the prosecution began before the man defected.
Economic record
Yilwatda defended the Tinubu administration by contrasting it with the privatisation programme of 1999 to 2003, which he said was overseen by a team chaired by a former vice president, now a presidential candidate. He claimed that the Ikot Abasi aluminium smelter and the Delta iron and steel complex were sold for a small fraction of their construction costs.
On the current government, he credited the new tax law, saying it relieves low earners, and cited an ₦800,000 annual income threshold below which salary is not taxed. He also cited rent relief, tax exemptions on food, medicines and building materials, and the New Hope housing initiative. He said the administration has cleared arrears owed to power generation companies, pensioners and airlines, and to foreign investors who could not repatriate funds.
On the student loan scheme, he said tuition is paid in full and students receive a ₦20,000 monthly upkeep allowance. He accused an opposition spokesman of wrongly presenting the allowance as the whole loan.
Petrol price ceiling
The government is negotiating a ceiling of ₦1,350 per litre on the gantry or landing cost of petrol. Under the arrangement, refiners and importers would absorb costs above the ceiling and recover them later when crude prices or exchange rates allow. The minister described this as “neither a subsidy nor a price control.”
Opposition critics say the policy copies a proposal by one of their candidates and is timed to win votes. Yilwatda denied any return to subsidy. He called the current fuel price rise “temporary,” blamed a conflict involving Iran and the United States for disrupting global crude supply, and said the measures respond to the global situation.
Party rifts and campaign structure
Yilwatda said he held a retreat in Maiduguri with the national working committee and state chairmen to assess the party’s strengths and weaknesses. He said committees have been set up to reach out to aggrieved members according to the risk in each state, and he described disputes in states such as Katsina and Kano as largely resolved.
On Kwara, he said the party zoned its governorship ticket to Kwara North in the interest of inclusion, and that Kwara Central stakeholders are unhappy but are being engaged. He said the party’s institutions, not any single governor, decide such matters.
On the campaign council, he said the published list was not final and would be revised to be more inclusive. He said it would “most likely” be inaugurated next week. The president, as party leader and candidate, will head the council, with two vice chairmen.
On the “Rainbow Coalition,” he said he is not opposed to opposition figures who say they will back the president. He added that APC governors and the party will support APC candidates “from top to bottom,” and that he would not endorse opposition candidates, naming FCT Minister Nyesom Wike as an example of someone in another party.
Opposition, protests and polls
Asked about “Tinubu must go” protests in northern Nigeria, he said protesters are opposition members, that APC rallies draw larger crowds, and that the party’s own polling shows it leading. When it was put to him that a self-commissioned poll could be skewed, he defended it as research the party uses to correct its weaknesses.
He said an alliance of opposition parties would not worry the APC, and that the ADC and NDC had not won any of the recent elections he cited. He denied that the party plans to intimidate the opposition.
In his closing remarks, he thanked Nigerians for their patience over the past three years and urged them to choose between continuing the current path and returning to what he called “the dark days.” He said the economic indicators are improving.
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