By Jude Opara, Abuja
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nantawe Yilwatda has described his party as the only one that is capable of winning an election in the country, because it is the only party that is firmly rooted in all parts of the six geopolitical zones of the country.
Yilwatda made the assertion on Tuesday shortly after going through the screening process ahead of the National Convention of the party which comes up this weekend in Abuja.
He said the APC has continued to show the rest of the political parties how to organize it’s activities without the usual rancour and acrimony that characterize programmes of most political parties.
“Finally, let me round off by appreciating the fact that APC is the only political party with a presence across all six geopolitical zones. Is it the governors? Is it the membership? Is it winning elections? If you look at all the by-elections conducted, we’ve won elections in all six zones. No political party has done this in the last year.
“Most political parties dominate only a zone, but APC has presence in all six geopolitical zones—we’ve won in Kano, Zaria, Adamawa, the South West, the South-South, and the South East. It shows the reach and strength of the party.
“So, for us, it is time to consolidate on everything we’re doing. Even in the Congress and Commission we are having right now, we have the least legal issues. Most issues have been settled by simple arbitration rather than court processes. The fact that our members can subject themselves to arbitration rather than going to court is a big plus. From the local government congresses to state congresses and even at the zonal level, we’ve not had a single court case. It shows that APC is a party of system, and even the members believe in the system and the processes we follow”.
On the takeaway from the screening process, Yilwatda said that every member of the party has subjected himself to its activities shows that in the ruling party, regardless of status, the party remains supreme.
“In the APC, it has been different. For bringing, subjecting everybody in the party, regardless of your position, to a due process. You’ve made the systems more transparent, you’ve made it more organized. I can assure the whole world that in APC, everybody is a subject of the system and how it operates.
“I’m so proud that we’re leading the party that is providing the best leadership for democracy in this country. So, I’m proud that the members of the party have given us support and they’ve worked seriously to ensure that this convention holds and also holds with a marked difference from other parties.
The APC boss further states that the creation of a membership digital data base of the party has deepened the strength of the party and also revealed that the party is more youth based.
“The registration of the membership has given us more data-driven positioning of the party. It is now that we’ve known that our party is more youth-driven than any other party. Before now, most people were telling us that they had the youths. We didn’t know that the youths were with the APC. Fifty percent of the members of the APC are between the ages of 18 and 35”.
Apart from the National Chairman, the National Secretary, Sen. Ajibola Basiru, the Deputy National Chairman (North), Alhaji Bukka Dalori, the Deputy National Chairman (South), Hon. Emma Enukwu, National Welfare Secretary, Chief Donatus Nwankpa, Deputy National Organizing Secretary, Nzeh Chidi Duru and the National Publicity Secretary (NPS), Barr. Felix Morka.
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