By Omeiza Ajayi
The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has warned political appointees serving in the government of President Bola Tinubu that they cannot hold political positions while claiming to be technocrats detached from partisan responsibilities, insisting that such appointees must be ready to mobilise support for the party or vacate their offices.
APC national chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, gave the warning on Wednesday in Abuja when he received members of the Progressive Local Government Chairmen’s Forum, led by the Chairman of Chanchaga Local Government in Niger State, Dr Mustafa Jibrin, who briefed him on the group’s grassroots mobilisation drive ahead of the 2027 general election.
Yilwatda said the council chairmen, being closer to the people than officials in Abuja, were better positioned to identify appointees who were failing to deliver politically in their wards, regardless of how well they performed administratively in their offices.
“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.
Yilwatda said appointees could not distance themselves from politics simply because their titles carried technocratic descriptions, comparing such claims to someone denying their ethnic identity despite carrying its unmistakable markers.
“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. I have been hearing some people saying that, ‘I am not a politician,’ but they are holding political appointments. 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 said.
According to him, appointees who wanted to avoid politics altogether should decline political appointments in the first instance, adding that the party’s mobilisation efforts depended on votes rather than office holders who saw themselves purely as administrators.
“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. 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 said.
Receiving the briefing from the local government chairmen, Yilwatda assured the group of the party’s full backing for their mobilisation activities, including plans to inaugurate the forum’s state coordinators and organise a mass endorsement rally for the president in Abuja.
“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.
Yilwatda pledged that the party would personally join any mobilisation efforts organised by the forum without waiting for formal invitations, likening reluctance to participate in such efforts to someone who is hungry but insists on being invited before eating.
Earlier, Jibrin had informed the national chairman that the Progressive Local Government Chairmen’s Forum now had the backing of over 685 local government chairmen and 31 state governors under the platform, and that the group was targeting at least 70 per cent of votes cast in the 2027 election for the APC.
He said the forum enjoys the support of the Governor of Niger State, Mohammed Umar Bago, who nominated him to lead the group, and disclosed plans to mobilise all 685 council chairmen, alongside their councillors, for a formal endorsement of President Tinubu’s re-election bid on a date to be fixed by the national chairman.
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