The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Dr Nentawe Yilwatda, on Thursday said the ruling party’s forthcoming national convention and congresses would reflect its growing diversity amid an influx of new members and governors.
Yilwatda spoke to State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where he said preparations for the convention and internal congresses were reviewed alongside key stakeholders across the arms of government and party structures.
The party chair said the pre-convention planning activities had brought together the party leadership, the National Assembly caucus and sub-national leaders to harmonise plans and timelines ahead of the exercises.
“It was a brief meeting to review the preparation for the convention and the congresses, so that we can be on one page — the sub-national, the national, the National Assembly and the party,” the APC chairman said.
According to him, the party is aligning its timetable and planning activities to ensure smooth coordination and inclusivity across all levels of government.
“We want to ensure inclusivity, both the national and sub-national. I want to carry everybody along in the party,” he added.
Yilwatda said the APC’s expansion had continued since Tinubu assumed office, with new members and governors joining the party, making it necessary to design processes that accommodate both old and new stakeholders without marginalisation.
“We have new members who have come in, new governors, new members. The party is expanding every day… We want to ensure that in the course of this growth, everybody and nobody is left behind,” he said.
The APC has recorded a wave of defections from opposition parties since the 2023 general elections, accounting for 29 of the 36 state governorship seats.
The convention, slated for March 2026, is expected to set the tone for the party’s internal realignments ahead of the 2027 election cycle, including zoning, leadership composition and the integration of new power blocs.
Yilwatda said President Tinubu’s input at the meeting was pivotal, describing the President as a seasoned politician whose experience had helped drive the APC’s recent growth.
“Mr President is a short politician, very experienced, and his advice was remarkable. The expansion, the growth, is because of his experience and his depth of knowledge in the political cycle,” he said.
Leave a comment