The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, has predicted that more governors and lawmakers will join the party ahead of the 2027 general election.
Yilwatda, represented by the APC Deputy National Chairman (South), Chief Emma Eneukwu, spoke during the Bayelsa State Chapter’s 12th expanded stakeholders’ meeting in Yenagoa, where the party formally endorsed President Bola Tinubu for re-election in 2027.
He said Tinubu’s achievements since assuming office had attracted governors and senators from other political parties, noting that APC was poised to deliver an overwhelming victory for the president.
“Our doors are still open, more governors are still moving in to our party, more personalities are still moving in, senators, members of the House of Representatives, because of the caliber, integrity and the output of the person we make president,” Yilwatda stated.
Comparing Tinubu to “a lion” unfazed by opposition challenges, he added, “It is expected that dogs will bark, it’s expected that opposition will speak and rise, but it is well assured that we have a product that even a blind man in this country will support overwhelmingly.”
He praised the South-South and South-East zones for what he described as a realistic embrace of the president’s leadership, saying many leaders had abandoned their former parties to support Tinubu’s vision for Nigeria.
However, key Bayelsa APC figures, including Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil) Senator Heineken Lokpobiri and former governorship candidate Chief David Lyon, were absent from the meeting amid unresolved internal disputes within the state chapter. The crisis has deepened with suspensions and rival claims to leadership between factions loyal to Lokpobiri and former governor Timipre Sylva.
Despite the divisions, Sylva declared that APC in Bayelsa was united and ready for the polls.
The stakeholders’ meeting ended with a vote of confidence in President Tinubu, endorsing him as the party’s sole candidate for 2027. The endorsement, moved by Ambassador Phillip Ikrusi and seconded by former federal lawmaker Preye Oseke, described Tinubu as a leader whose reforms in the economy, infrastructure, energy, and security had “laid a solid foundation for a prosperous Nigeria and rekindled the hope of citizens.”
