APC Chair: Obi has been changing parties since 2014, no one pushed him

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has rejected claims that the APC is causing problems in other parties. He said that Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, has been switching parties since 2014 without any interference from the APC.

Yilwatda made these comments on Tuesday during an interview on Channels Television. He was responding to accusations from opposition members who say the APC is weakening their parties ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The APC chairman stated that Obi's movement between parties started long before the current administration. He said it is unfair to blame the APC for Obi's decisions.

"Nobody in APC chased Peter Obi out of PDP. Nobody from APC chased Obi out of the Labour Party. Nobody in APC chased him out of the Labour Party to ADC or chased him out of ADC again to NDC."

He added, "He started moving from his party long before now, during the time of President Jonathan in 2014. It means that APC has been the person chasing him from 2015 till date, when we were even opposition?"

Yilwatda’s remarks come as Obi and other opposition leaders accuse the APC of creating issues within their parties and encouraging defections to weaken them before the 2027 elections.

He responded to claims that the APC was behind the Labour Party's problems. Yilwatda said the issues within those parties are self-inflicted.

"This is a group of people who have a self-inflicted wound. Every day, they move from party to party," he said.

Yilwatda then compared the formation of the APC to the current opposition coalition. He said the APC was built on a shared vision, not personal goals. He mentioned that former Lagos State governor and current President Bola Tinubu was a unifying figure when the APC was formed in 2013 and was not seeking the presidency at that time.

He believes current opposition leaders are just looking for platforms that can give them electoral tickets.

"When he left Labour Party, he moved to ADC. He came to ADC, he discovered that he couldn’t get an automatic ticket. That’s why he left to NDC. And in NDC now, he has gotten his ticket," he said.

Yilwatda added, "If anyone wanted to destabilise Obi, we would have stopped him from getting a ticket if we were the people doing it. But we don’t have that control."

He also denied that APC members have infiltrated opposition parties to create chaos.

"There’s no single member of APC that is in ADC. No single member of APC that is in NDC," he said.

The APC chairman did admit that it's part of his job to recruit politicians from other parties. When asked if the APC was actively seeking defections, Yilwatda said, "Of course, we do it. We move around."

He added, "That’s even the role. That’s my role as national party chairman. It’s part of my role… To galvanise and mobilise the party."

Yilwatda also dismissed the idea that politicians joining the APC escape scrutiny over corruption claims.

"Never. Most people who are in APC have still been prosecuted," he said.

Obi’s recent moves have sparked discussions about the stability of opposition parties. The former Labour Party presidential candidate has switched to the ADC and then to the NDC, where he became the party’s presidential candidate for the 2027 election.