Battle for 2027: How we get opposition leaders to join APC – Bala Ibrahim

Bala Ibrahim, the National Director of Publicity for the All Progressives Congress (APC), has shed light on the ruling party’s strategy for attracting prominent figures from opposition ranks. In this interview, Ibrahim dismisses claims that the APC is destabilising rival parties, insisting instead that its expanding political base is the result of deliberate engagement, the […]

Bala Ibrahim, the National Director of Publicity for the All Progressives Congress (APC), has shed light on the ruling party’s strategy for attracting prominent figures from opposition ranks. In this interview, Ibrahim dismisses claims that the APC is destabilising rival parties, insisting instead that its expanding political base is the result of deliberate engagement, the party’s track record in governance, and its appeal to leaders seeking a stronger platform.

 

Opposition parties, including the ADC, allege that the APC is deliberately targeting their key leaders to weaken their 2027 prospects. They cite the example of the EFCC’s invite to former Governor Tambuwal as a case study. How do you respond to this?

Well, I think these allegations are misdirected. They are wrongly put. In fact, they are malicious allegations in the sense that the APC is not in any way related to the prosecution of any person.

The APC is a political party. There is a difference between the party or the platform that established the executive and the executive itself. If the allegation is targeted or directed at the executive, I think it must be substantiated with facts.

• Battle for 2027: How APC ‘coerces’ opposition politicians
• Battle for 2027: Despite APC’s overtures, opposition still holds winning card – Umar Ardo

Let there be facts to show that there is a link to the invitation to Tambuwal, for example. If substantiation is not done, it becomes a malicious allegation aimed at tarnishing the good name of the executive and, by extension, the party that produced the executive. That is about the only relationship between the APC and the executive. The APC does not prosecute.

It does not invite. It is a political party that only dishes out programmes and policies for the government in power.

 

But the argument is that since the government in power is a product of the APC, it is also concerned about retaining itself in power in 2027, so it is using all these means. Is the APC trying to separate itself from the actions or inactions of the government?

Well, I think those making such allegations need to look closely.  If they investigate thoroughly, they will not find any coercion from the APC. The APC is a progressive party that is after the welfare of the citizenry and it will not engage in coercion simply because it wants to remain in power.

The ambition of the APC is to give democratic dividends to the people and that is what it is busy doing.

 

Several opposition figures recently joined the APC after meeting with senior party officials. Is there a coordinated strategy to win leaders from the opposition? If you insist that the government or the party is not adopting coercion, is there a strategy?

Well, much as the APC is not interested in establishing a one-party system in Nigeria, because that is a cumbersome arrangement that will not even be good for democracy, that is, however, not to say the APC is not willing or interested in having as many members as possible, provided, and I repeat, provided that they are members that will respect the provisions of the party’s constitution. So, the APC, in its effort to attract more members, is always reaching out to people who are democrats, selling its manifesto and its policies, and making overtures that are democratically permissible to these people with a view to getting them into its fold. But coercion is not part of that invitation.

 

You talk about democratically allowed overtures. Can you give some examples your party is adopting? Because people keep saying you are wielding the big stick and using a carrot-and-stick approach.

You see, one of the ways the party makes this overture is to appeal to interested people, saying that in the APC they will provide a level playing field for those who want to contest elections. A political party is a vehicle through which people with aspirations or ambitions for positions apply for those positions.

If you have made an attempt in your own party and failed, or you feel your own party will not provide a level playing field for all, you look for a vehicle that is providing that level playing field—and that vehicle is the APC.

So it plans to have as many people as possible. The APC sells these ideas to people aspiring to or interested in meeting their democratic ambition. These are some of the overtures the APC uses to get people on board.

Also, the APC is executing certain programmes that are in tandem with democratic principles, which are not available in other parties, and sells these to people who may be interested. When they see—really see—that these are yielding results, they embrace the policies and programmes of the APC. And the reforms introduced by the APC are beginning to yield the desired results. Such that the opposition, or those in the opposition whose policies and programmes are archaic, are beginning to abandon the principles and policies of those parties and embrace those of the APC. These are the kinds of overtures the APC is dishing out—not coercion.

 

But there has been speculation that high-profile defections are being incentivised with political appointments or electoral promises. Can you categorically deny that such offers are being made?

You see, allegations remain allegations until proven. And we always call on people to come up with concrete evidence that will justify the allegations. And those of us in the media, those of us in the press, we have a training, an ethic that does not allow us to rely on or promote allegations without substantiation. So, I challenge the people that are making these allegations to provide evidence of those anti-democratic antics that are put to use to woo people into the APC. They cannot. They will not because they don’t have it.

 

Some of those reportedly approached were part of the coalition that openly vowed to challenge the APC’s hold on power. People ask why the APC is so focused on these coalition leaders rather than building alliances within its own ranks.

Politics is a game that is played according to the rules to get as many people as you can so as to form the majority in order to have your way, while the minority can only have their say. And in order to have your way, you try as much as possible to set out to have the majority, and one way of having the majority is to set out your programmes to everyone, including those ones that are ringing the bell of coalition to unseat you. You don’t just sit down at home and close your eyes simply because you are in power and say that you will ignore what those who are trying to unseat you are doing.

No, you don’t do that, you try to reach out. And when people say coercion is being used against these people, I tell them to look very well. High-profile members of the APC have also been interrogated or invited by the EFCC.

The former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs is still visiting the EFCC. The former Governor of Kogi State is still visiting the EFCC. A huge and long shopping list of APC members is before the EFCC.

But nobody is talking about them. They only talk about Tambuwal and others, as if they are the only people there.

Look, if you commit an offence or are alleged to have committed an offence, the least you can do is attempt to clear your name or face the music. It is not to whip up the sentiment of politics that you are being investigated because you are in the opposition.

 

You have mentioned that the APC is not pursuing a one-party agenda, but critics say the approach it is adopting undermines multi-party democracy by reducing electoral competition. How does the APC reconcile these defections with its commitment to democratic pluralism?

You see, the APC has a comfortable majority in the legislature—in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. As I speak to you, a bill is in motion with a view to decentralising the powers of INEC so as to establish a body that will register more political parties. The ambition of that bill is to fast-track the registration of political parties. If the APC, which is in the majority, is not interested in a multi-party arrangement, it would not sponsor that bill. As we speak, the APC wants more parties, because the more the merrier. It is healthier for a democracy to have a multi-party system. 

To pursue a one-party system, you need to have a constitutional amendment, and in all the constitutional amendment bills being promoted by the APC members, there is none that proposes a one-party system.

And all the allegations about establishing a one-party system being engineered by the APC are just the shenanigans of those losing their grip on power.