TPI, an arm of APC brags of no challenge to party in future elections

By Haruna Salami

Apparently basking in the euphoria of the season of high profile decampees into the party, the ruling APC has boasted that no party can challenge it in forthcoming elections.

The Director General, The Progressive Institute (TPI), Dr. Lanre Adebayo stated this when he led the management team of the institute on a courtesy visit to the Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin at the National Assembly, Abuja.

Dr. Adebayo said TPI has lined up some projects such as organizing retreat for party leaders at ward, local government, state and national levels and also take a stock of what they have done in the last two years.

Top on his mind is to know what are the what are the issues, the challenges and “encourage our leaders to focus attention on them and prepare for how they can address some of the challenges and gaps as 2027 general elections draw near.

According to him, that is the only way the party will remain “strong, resilient, and be an example to others”, adding that “when you look at Nigerian political environment now, I don’t think we have a party that can challenge APC”.

However, he quickly added that “we have to keep on working very hard to ensure that the leadership God has given to us will stay. We have to work under our leaders like Senator Jibril to make sure that APC leads and provide the direction for the future.

Dr. Adebayo also harped on political party ideology as a means to “change the political environment in our country. We need to stop all this mundane, petty discussion on the media” and “be talking about governance, serious issues that affect our people”

In his response, the Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin said the National Assembly will support The Progressive Institute (TPI) established by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in its task of providing training to emerging young Nigerians on democracy.

Barau expressed gratitude to the APC national chairman, Dr. Umar Ganduje and the management of TPI for making the Institute s reality.

According to him, being a beneficiary of a similar American institute, National Democratic Institute (NDI) established by the Democratic Party, he alongside many federal lawmakers, would ensure that national parliament provides necessary support to make the progressive institute succeed.

He said, “I was one of those that witnessed the unveiling of the Institute. And I’m one of the admirers and supporters of this Institute and what it stands for. I am doing this wholeheartedly for several reasons.

“One of the reasons, of course, is that I’m a beneficiary of a similar Institute from a foreign land. And since I went for a training programme at that Institute, I’ve been praying that we have a similar body in Nigeria.

“So, when I heard the news through the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje), that this Institute was coming on board, I was delighted.

He said about 26 years ago, when he won the election to represent his constituency in the House of Representatives in the Fourth Republic, they were invited by the NDI of the United States, which is a similar body owned by the Democratic Party of the United States.

“That Institute, decided to come here to give us an intensive training in respect on how to go into the legislature of this country because at that time, there was a gap”.

Barau noted that Nigeria had a very long period of military rule after the end of the Second Republic, hence the need for an institute to give intensive trainings to politicians and other Nigerians who are interested in politics.

“It was the NDI who came and taught us, in the classroom style, on how to go into the legislature of this country and how to conduct ourselves, and we gained a lot from what we were taught.

“The training we got made us stand out amongst the set of legislators we have in this country. The legislators of the Fourth National Assembly were very much vast in the act of legislature.”

He urged the leadership of the institute to extend their activities to other political parties within and outside Nigeria.

He said, “I thank God I am the First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament. So I will also want to plead that you extend your tentacles beyond the confines of this country.

“Try to reach out to us. Even I know we have different ideologies. We have two conservatives within the legislators in the ECOWAS Parliament. You are going to be very useful. Please extend your tentacles to the ECOWAS Parliament”.