2027: Progressives not working together – APC South-east

…insists on top to bottom votes for its candidates

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s claim that progressives are working together ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The party described the claim as a fallacy, insisting that its members would work towards securing victory for all its candidates in the elections.

The Deputy National Chairman of the APC (South), Dr Ben Nwoye, stated this during the Anambra Central stakeholders’ meeting organised by the party’s senatorial candidate, Senator Uche Ekwunife, in Awka, the state capital.

Nwoye said the APC would work with commitment and determination to ensure that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the party’s candidates for the National Assembly and State House of Assembly emerge victorious at the polls.

He dismissed Soludo’s assertion that the progressives were working together ahead of the election.

Nwoye said, “APC in Anambra State is a special case; all the lies about Rainbow Coalition started here. We are one APC, campaigns have started; the story that progressives are working together is a fallacy. The only way out and we can benefit is by electing our own people. We have to vote for all our candidates.”

He further said the claim was being used to deny Anambra the benefits that could come from supporting APC candidates.

“The trick is what they are using to deny Anambra what should come to them. The only way we can get our Minister, board appointment and other top positions is by voting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, senatorial candidates, House of Representatives candidates and the candidates of the State House of Assembly,” he stated.

ALSO READ: 2027: South-East APC leaders reject Wike’s Rainbow Coalition

Nwoye urged APC members to vote for the party’s candidates across all levels, saying, “All we have to do during the election is to vote from top to bottom or from bottom to top.”

He added, “We are Progressives but not progressive for other parties; we are clear about who we are.”

The Deputy National Organising Secretary of the APC, Emeka Okafor, also reaffirmed the party’s position, saying APC members would support all its candidates during the 2027 elections.

“Our message is clear that on the day of elections on January 15, 2027, we are going to vote for all APC candidates from top to bottom,” Okafor said.

According to him, those claiming that the progressives were working together were deceiving themselves.

“Come January 15, we are going to support all our candidates,” he added.

Okafor also said peace had returned to the APC in Anambra and called on members to close ranks ahead of the elections.

“Peace has returned to APC in Anambra and the National leadership of the party has pledged to support all our candidates; so let’s close ranks and support the party. Let’s support our candidates and with that victory will be ours,” he said.

The development comes after Soludo recently described the relationship between APGA, the APC and the Federal Government as a partnership, saying that “progressives are working” and describing the arrangement as one that works.

At the stakeholders’ meeting, national officers, party leaders and members drawn from the 21 local government areas and Anambra Central Senatorial District endorsed Senator Uche Ekwunife as the party’s candidate for the senatorial election.

The Deputy National Woman Leader (Southeast) of the APC, Dr Obby Achi, said the stakeholders’ meeting was important, citing Ekwunife’s political experience and commitment.

Achi said she would personally support Ekwunife’s campaign and urged party members not to allow a repeat of what happened in Anambra in 2023.

She said, “The APC at the National level believes in Senator Ekwunife and therefore you people of the Central Senatorial district have to stand solidly behind her and to also commend her for what she has been doing and will continue to do when she gets at the National Assembly.”

She also urged aggrieved party members to reconcile and work together ahead of the election.

“Let those aggrieved forgive each other so that we go to the battlefield with Senator Uche Ekwunife to win this election,” she said.

Earlier, Ekwunife said the meeting was convened to discuss strategies for the APC’s 2027 campaign.

She said the party would campaign on its record, adding, “We are going to campaign on our performance.”

Ekwunife also expressed confidence in her capacity to deliver, saying, “Every community I go I will point out what I have done in that community; that’s capacity and I have the capacity, in fact excess capacity is there to deliver. We have competent people in our party.”