2027: Deliver votes for Tinubu or get out, APC tells appointees

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has warned political appointees serving in President Bola Tinubu’s administration to mobilise votes for the party or vacate their offices.

APC National Chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda, declared that appointees could not occupy political offices while claiming to be technocrats with no responsibility to campaign for the ruling party.

Yilwatda issued the warning in Abuja on Wednesday while receiving members of the Progressive Local Government Chairmen’s Forum.

The delegation, led by the Chairman of Chanchaga Local Government Area of Niger State, Mustafa Jibrin, briefed him on its grassroots mobilisation campaign ahead of the 2027 general election.

Yilwatda said local government chairmen were better positioned to expose political appointees who performed well in Abuja but had no influence in their wards.

“It is you who will tell me that this commissioner is not working. Maybe he is working in the office, but politically he is zero in his ward.

“It is you who know whether this director-general may be working in the office, but politically he is zero back home,” he said.

The APC chairman insisted that anyone who accepted a political appointment must be ready to participate fully in the activities of the party.

According to him, appointees cannot enjoy the benefits of political office and later distance themselves from the politics that brought them into government.

“We call them political appointees. There is a word ‘political’ there. They are not just technocrats. They are political appointees.

“You can’t be holding a political position and then say you are not a politician,” Yilwatda said.

He likened such appointees to people carrying unmistakable tribal marks while denying their ethnic identity.

“It is like somebody who has Yoruba or Kanuri tribal marks telling you that he is not a Yoruba or Kanuri man. It cannot happen,” he declared.

Yilwatda warned those unwilling to campaign for APC against accepting political appointments.

“If you don’t want to be a politician, don’t take a political appointment. We work to mobilise votes. Without the votes, you can’t be in office,” he said.

He directed the council chairmen to identify areas where political appointees were failing the party and expose weaknesses that could undermine APC’s chances in 2027.

“That is why we need you to work with these people. Tell them they are not doing well. Tell them where we need to work harder.

“Tell them where we have leakages so that we can win the election,” he added.

Yilwatda pledged the support of the APC leadership for the forum’s grassroots mobilisation programme and proposed mass rally to endorse Tinubu for a second term.

“We will support you. We will stand by you. We will ensure that we have a strong partnership that will give this party a strong victory in 2027,” he said.

Earlier, Jibrin said the forum had secured the backing of more than 685 local government chairmen and 31 APC governors.

He said the chairmen were targeting at least 70 per cent of the votes cast in the 2027 presidential election for APC.

Jibrin also disclosed plans to mobilise the council chairmen and their councillors for a mass endorsement of Tinubu’s re-election bid in Abuja.