 in Adamawa State.){kind=link}
Despite recent defections by some political heavyweights, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa State has insisted that its structure remains unshaken ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The party’s Organising Secretary, Mustapha Ribadu, in an interview with Arewa PUNCH on Monday in Yola, dismissed concerns that the exit of prominent figures could weaken the party’s electoral strength.
“Wining elections is not about individuals, it is about the grassroots people that are behind the party,” he stressed.
Ribadu argued that the movement of few politicians to other parties would not dent the APC’s chances, as those individuals did not take support bases along with them.
“The people that left the party, who are their followers that followed them?” he queried.
He cited the example of former Governor Jibrilla Bindow, noting that despite holding powerful position in the past with wide-reaching appointments, he failed to rally support even in his home turf during the last election.
“Senator Jibrilla Bindow was a governor with over 21 commissioners, 21 local government chairmen, over 700 aides, over 200 councillors, but none of them joined him to his new party, so can you say Adamawa APC has lost anything?” he asked again.
“With this political results, what is the political value of Bindow?” Ribadu further queried no one in particular.
“Senator Aisha Binnani’s ambassadors have changed their names to Adamawa APC ambassadors who are now her followers that joined her in the new party?”
“We can see that the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, left the People’s Democratic Party to another party, his biological son Adamu Atiku is still in PDP as commissioner, just as all his political allies are still in PDP. So a one-man squad is of no use in politics,” he said.
Addressing internal wrangling within the APC, Ribadu acknowledged the presence of disagreements but described them as normal in large political family.
He said, “a big family must have divergent opinions to disagree and to agree.”
“What we are interested in is good governance. It is not about where the vice president comes from or who is the vice president. If the president brings someone from Lagos State who can work for him in the interest of Nigeria, he should pick the person.
“In the United States, there are times a president and vice president would emerge from the same zone. What is paramount is good governance,” he stated.