By Omeiza Ajayi
ABUJA: A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, Prince Paul Ikonne, has launched a stinging rebuttal of Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe over his recent comments questioning the legitimacy of President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 presidential election.
Dismissing the remarks as politically desperate and detached from prevailing realities, Ikonne who spoke on Tuesday while appearing on TVC’s morning programme, This Morning, said the South East where Abaribe hails from, is now the stronghold of the APC.
He argued that Abaribe’s comments were symptomatic of mounting anxiety within opposition ranks as political realignments gather pace ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The Abia-born APC stalwart was responding to comments credited to Senator Abaribe on Monday, in which the lawmaker claimed that President Tinubu did not win the 2023 election and would be unable to secure victory in 2027.
Reacting, Ikonne said Abaribe’s persistent criticisms of Tinubu’s mandate was driven by fear of the ruling party’s expanding influence nationwide, insisting that the president’s victory in 2023 was both decisive and legitimate.
He stressed that Tinubu secured broad-based support cutting across regions, ethnic divides and political affiliations, adding that attempts to reopen the debate on the election outcome amounted to political revisionism that ignored the verdict already upheld by the nation’s electoral and judicial processes.
The APC chieftain further questioned Abaribe’s moral authority to interrogate Tinubu’s electoral strength, particularly in Abia State, alleging that the senator had grown disconnected from grassroots political realities.
According to him, Abaribe’s alleged lack of active engagement with his constituents had left him out of tune with the shifting political dynamics in Abia and the wider South-East.
He said; “If you know Senator Abaribe very well, you will realize that he is an attention seeker. He is always seeking attention. This is a man who did not win his own election in 2023. One young man defeated him during the election, and anybody who wants to know the details should get what the young man filed at the Tribunal against Senator Abaribe.
“What Abaribe displayed showed clearly that the opposition, if any, are panicky. The President won the election, not just in one state but across the country and his popularity has gone up more than what it was in 2023 because 90% of PDP in the entire South-east have collapsed into the APC.”
Ikonne, a former Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Land Development Authority NALDA, said recent political realignments across the South-East and beyond pointed to a growing groundswell of support for the APC and the Tinubu administration.
“As we speak, about 90 per cent of the PDP structure in the South-East has collapsed into the APC. The raw materials of politics are human beings, and those human beings are now gravitating towards President Tinubu. This is the reality in the South-East and Nigeria as a whole. I can assure you that there will be an Asiwaju tsunami in 2027″, he declared.
He dismissed claims that Tinubu would struggle electorally in Abia State, accusing Abaribe of failing to keep abreast of developments within his constituency.
Ikonne argued that tangible federal projects and interventions under the Renewed Hope Agenda were already reshaping public perception of the APC across the region.
According to him, ongoing infrastructure projects, including the rehabilitation of the Enugu–Port Harcourt Expressway, alongside agricultural and social investment programmes, were resonating strongly with the people of the South-East and underscoring the administration’s commitment to inclusive development and equitable distribution of federal presence.
Ikonne also rejected assertions that Nigeria was drifting towards a one-party state, describing such claims as excuses by politicians unwilling to accept the growing appeal of the APC.
“Even the blind and the deaf can see that Nigeria is developing rapidly under President Tinubu. That is why the APC continues to attract followership from across party lines.
“It is not about one-party state, it is about building a strong platform, and you know that chartered politicians when they see a strong platform they don’t waste time, they cross and it is obvious that APC is the platform to beat.
“Like in the South East, the region is now the stronghold of APC if you look at very well. So the door is still open for those who have seen the light to join us and for those who have not seen anything we wish them well”, he stated.
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