…Says “It will spell doom for Party”
A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger State, Hon. Jonathan Vatsa, has warned that any attempt by the party to come up with the same idea of a Muslim-Muslim ticket will likely spell doom for it in the 2027 presidential elections.
While speaking to Journalists on the forthcoming 2027 general elections, which is gathering momentum in Minna on Thursday ahead of the party’s national convention, Vatsa, who was Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, said that the political arithmetic and the current political atmosphere in the country strongly point to the fact that the 2023 Muslim-Muslim ticket can no longer deliver the party.
According to him, “if that experiment worked in 2023, it will no longer work in 2027. The opposition will capitalise on that to create upset like we did to PDP in 2015”.
Vatsa, who was Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, argued that despite the array of defections into the ruling party, it cannot change the mindset of the people if the party sticks to the 2023 Muslim-Muslim arrangement.
Furthermore, Vatsa added, said that “Nigerians might not subscribe to this arrangement this time around. I believe that the Muslim population in the north no longer fancy the arrangement as it has not translated to any meaningful changes in their daily lives.
“Therefore, it will be counterproductive to go into the 2027 general elections with the same arrangement.
“As I speak right now, the majority of Nigerians, especially our Muslim brothers from the north no longer believe in the Muslim-Muslim ticket. The outcome of that arrangement did not change anything in their lives.
“To be sincere with you, the North believed that they were the victims of Tinubu’s leadership. That is the general perception in the north, where we got our votes from in 2023.
“If the party decides to go ahead with the Muslim-Muslim ticket, I am afraid it might spell doom for the party. Let us not be deceived by the ongoing mass defection by governors and national assembly members; it will not deliver the party.
“The majority of the defectors are only looking for a platform to contest the 2027 elections, not that they are ready to work for the party like the way some of us put our lives on the line and worked for the emergence of the party in 2015.
“If you like, let all the 36 state governors defect to APC, that may not guarantee you winning elections. It is also not an assurance that you can successfully rig the elections, no.
“Experience has shown that, if the people are not with you, there is no way you can rig an election. The governors and the national assembly members cannot go to the polling units to rig the election for you; they need the support of the people. You must be popular among the people to be able to get their support.
“I am not talking about the presidency alone, even at the state levels, the party should not take the people for granted, because the opposition parties might take advantage of our wrong calculations.
“The outcome of the party’s national convention and the primaries that will follow will be another litmus test for the peaceful co-existence in the party. The ability to manage the post convention and party primaries crisis will determine the success of the party”.
Vatsa, who belongs to the defunct ACN block that formed an alliance with CPC and ANPP to give birth to the current APC party, also warned the party to be vigilant over the mass defection into the party.
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He stressed that “when the boat is overloaded, it might capsize. So far, the ward, local government and state congresses have been successful, and I pray too that the national convention will be rancour-free, but we must be vigilant. We must watch the activities of the defectors closely.
“We must learn a lesson from the mistakes of some political parties that could not manage their success. We must try hard to avoid anything that will lead to fragments in the party, if not our situation will be worse than what some political parties are going through at the moment”.
