The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has said no opposition candidate can match President Bola Tinubu’s record ahead of the 2027 general election.
Yilwatda named former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress; former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress; former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party; and Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, the presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement, among those he said could not match Tinubu’s achievements.
He spoke on Thursday in Abuja while receiving members of the Forum of APC House of Representatives Aspirants, led by Hon. Danjuma Mohammed, at the party’s national secretariat.
According to Yilwatda, the achievements of the Tinubu administration in infrastructure and other sectors placed the president ahead of his potential challengers.
He said the APC considered Tinubu its most credible candidate, adding that the president’s record compared favourably with those of other contenders.
“Let the opposition present their records alongside those of this administration, including their achievements in building strong institutions, and Nigerians will see the difference,” Yilwatda said.
On infrastructure, Yilwatda questioned the road projects delivered during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, when Atiku served as vice-president.
He claimed that Nigerians could not identify a 500-kilometre road constructed with a N300 billion road budget released during that period.
“We were here live. When the president gave road projects of over N300 billion, when another person was the Minister of Works, we couldn’t find even the road that was patched with that budget,” he said.
Yilwatda contrasted this with projects he said the Tinubu administration had completed or was still executing, including the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway and the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
He also cited the Trans-Sahara Superhighway, claiming that work had reached between 30 and 40 per cent, with the project covering more than 1,400 kilometres.
He argued that these projects demonstrated the administration’s commitment to infrastructure and economic development.
Yilwatda also defended the government’s student loan scheme, criticising opposition figures who had questioned the value of the financial support provided to students.
The APC chairman said the party had more than 261,000 executives nationwide and called on the forum to work with its structures to secure victory in 2027.
‘No opposition candidate can match Tinubu’s record’ – APC Chairman Yilwatda