Former House of Reps Aspirants Pledge Nationwide Mobilisation for APC, Propose Six-Zone Conferences to Market Tinubu’s Achievements

By Chioma Vivian James

A political group of former supporters of ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar has defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), pledging to mobilise support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The Forum of House of Representatives Aspirants announced its decision on Thursday during a courtesy visit to the APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.

The defection marks a political realignment for the group, which was established under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2022 to unite unsuccessful House of Representatives aspirants and mobilise support for Atiku’s 2023 presidential ticket with former Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

The Forum’s National Coordinator, Hon. Mohammed Gashua, said subsequent political developments had prompted many of its members to leave the PDP and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the APC.

According to him, the group has resolved to deploy its political experience, organisational capacity and grassroots networks towards securing victory for Tinubu, Shettima and other APC candidates in the 2027 elections.

The Forum claimed to have members across Nigeria’s 360 federal constituencies, a reach it said would strengthen the party’s nationwide mobilisation efforts. However, it did not disclose its total membership or the number of members who had formally joined the APC.

Gashua explained that the Forum was established after the PDP’s 2022 primaries to unite aspirants who failed to secure the party’s tickets, preserve political relationships and sustain support for the party’s presidential candidate at the time.

“Our mission was to foster unity, sustain political relationship and mobilise support for the presidential ambition of His Excellency Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa,” he said.

He added that the group had since regrouped under the APC, with members committed to supporting the ruling party at the presidential, governorship, National Assembly and state assembly levels.

The development highlights the continuing movement of political actors and former aspirants among parties ahead of the 2027 general elections, as political organisations seek to consolidate their support bases and build grassroots networks.

Beyond its pledge of electoral support, the Forum said it had compiled a document outlining the achievements of the Tinubu administration to counter what it described as misleading representations of the Federal Government’s reform agenda by opposition groups.

Gashua said the document was designed to provide Nigerians with information about the administration’s policies and achievements, particularly amid criticism of the short-term effects of its economic reforms.

The group appealed to Yilwatda to support the production and nationwide distribution of the materials in major Nigerian languages and across multiple media platforms.

It also proposed organising political conferences across the country’s six geopolitical zones to publicise the administration’s record and strengthen the APC’s campaign messaging ahead of the elections.

The Forum, however, did not provide a budget, distribution schedule or specific performance indicators for the proposed publicity campaign.

Welcoming the group into the APC, Yilwatda described the party as an inclusive political platform open to Nigerians irrespective of age, gender, religion, ethnicity or disability.

He noted that the Forum’s chairman had recently defected from the ADC to the APC, adding that the ruling party continued to attract members from different political backgrounds.

The APC national chairman also urged the former aspirants not to abandon their political ambitions because of electoral setbacks.

Drawing from his own political experience, Yilwatda recounted how he contested a governorship election and pursued the matter to the Supreme Court before subsequently serving as a minister and emerging as the party’s national chairman.

He further illustrated the importance of perseverance with an account of how flooding destroyed his rice farm in Benue State in 1996, but persistence reportedly led to a bumper harvest the following year.

He encouraged the aspirants to remain committed to the party and apply their political experience towards strengthening its structures.

YILWATDA HIGHLIGHTS TINUBU’S INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

Defending the Tinubu administration’s performance, Yilwatda pointed to several road infrastructure projects across the country, arguing that the Federal Government had made significant investments in transportation networks.

Among the projects he cited were the Abuja–Kaduna–Kano road, Kano–Maradi corridor, Kano–Jigawa and Kano–Daura routes, as well as the Kaduna–Niger–Kebbi–Sokoto–Illela corridor.

Others included the Abuja–Lokoja–Okene–Benin route, Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway, Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway, Enugu–Onitsha road and Enugu–Makurdi–Abuja corridor.

Yilwatda described the projects as evidence of the administration’s infrastructure drive and argued that the APC could present Tinubu’s record as part of its case for another term in office.

He put the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway at approximately 700 kilometres and the Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway at more than 1,400 kilometres.

However, he did not provide consolidated figures for expenditure, completed sections or the percentage of the listed projects delivered. The projects also vary in their stages of implementation, making independent verification necessary to establish their overall progress.

POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS AHEAD OF 2027

The Forum pledged loyalty to Tinubu, Shettima and the APC leadership, promising to abide by the party’s constitution and contribute its resources, time and energy towards the party’s electoral objectives.

For the APC, the group’s entry could provide an additional channel for grassroots engagement, particularly if its claimed presence across the 360 federal constituencies is backed by active and functional local structures.

For opposition parties, the development underscores the competition for former aspirants, political organisers and grassroots networks whose activities could influence campaign mobilisation.

Nevertheless, the defection alone does not establish the scale of electoral support the APC stands to gain. The Forum’s actual membership strength, the effectiveness of its constituency-level structures and its capacity to translate political declarations into voter participation remain key factors in assessing its potential impact.

The group’s transition from supporting Atiku Abubakar in 2023 to backing Tinubu in 2027 underscores the fluid nature of political alliances as Nigeria’s political parties position themselves for another general election.