The All Progressives Congress has condemned former Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s assertion that governors’ defections to the APC will not decide the 2027 presidential election.

“First, it is intellectually disingenuous to isolate Lagos from the broader national picture. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerged victorious in the 2023 presidential election not by accident, but by building the widest national coalition, winning the constitutional spread, and securing the mandate of Nigerians across diverse regions.

“Presidential elections are won at the national level, not on the basis of a single state, however symbolic. To suggest otherwise betrays either a poor grasp of electoral realities or a deliberate attempt to mislead,” said Seye Oladejo, APC spokesman in Lagos, in a statement on Thursday.

He added, “Second, it is convenient for Mr Aregbesola to forget that the so-called opposition ‘victory’ in Lagos during the presidential election was pyrrhic at best. It neither altered the national outcome nor endured beyond that single contest.

“Just days later, during the governorship election, Lagosians reaffirmed their confidence in the APC and the progressive tradition by returning the party to office. Even more instructive, subsequent off-season bye-elections across the state produced sweeping victories for the APC, a clear and unmistakable reflection of the progressive party’s enduring control, structure, and grassroots acceptance in Lagos.”

A third point, Mr Oladejo raised, was that “far from diminishing” Mr Tinubu’s stature, the Lagos presidential election results “enhanced his democratic credentials”.

“They stand today as incontrovertible proof of his belief in, and commitment to, a credible electoral process,” Mr Oladejo explained. “The fact that an opposition candidate could win in a state governed by his party underscores the integrity of the process under his watch and silences any lingering doubts about his democratic ethos.”

He pointed out that the APC “has never claimed that defections alone” win elections.

“What wins elections are performance, credibility, structure, leadership, and a compelling vision. Where defections occur in favour of the APC, they are often a response to the glaring failure, incoherence, and lack of ideological direction within opposition ranks. They are a consequence, not a cause, of the ruling party’s political strength.

“We understand the nightmare that the current wave of mass defections has unleashed on the opposition. The panic, denial, and rhetorical outbursts now on display are symptoms of a political camp struggling with its own impending irrelevance. We reaffirm, without equivocation, that those horrific dreams will indeed come true in 2027, when the opposition, bereft of ideas, unity, and credibility, will disappear into the winds of history,” the APC chieftain stated.