Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Navy, Yusuf Gagdi, has expressed confidence that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will retain power in the 2027 general election, arguing that opposition leaders, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi, have not demonstrated the political organisation needed to defeat President Bola Tinubu.
The Plateau lawmaker also defended ongoing efforts to establish state police, criticising opposition figures for questioning the timing of the initiative instead of focusing on its potential to tackle insecurity.
Speaking on Tuesday during an appearance on Politics Today, Mr Gagdi said he remained convinced that the APC was better positioned than any opposition party ahead of the next presidential election.
“I have never, in my political imagination, thought that my party, APC, will lose the election,” he said.
According to him, the ruling party has maintained a nationwide political presence and grassroots mobilisation that far exceeds those of opposition parties.
“You have seen APC’s activities in the last one year across Nigeria, in the four angles of Nigeria where our political activities is 10 times the political activities of any opposition political party in Nigeria,” he said.
Mr Gagdi argued that despite growing political discussions about possible opposition alliances ahead of the 2027 polls, he had yet to see evidence that either Messrs Atiku or Obi was building a formidable structure capable of unseating the incumbent president.
“What are the opposition doing? What are the opposition planning or doing?” he asked.
“I have not seen, with the activities of opposition, those you mentioned, Peter Obi or Atiku, I have not seen any effort being put in place by them to unseat or defeat the President come 2027,” he said.
The lawmaker dismissed suggestions that only opposition politicians were preparing for the next election cycle, insisting that the APC was also actively working to secure another electoral victory.
“You think Bola Tinubu and the APC are not trying to win elections in 2027? Atiku and Obi have always been defeated,” he said.
Drawing on his political experience in Plateau State, Mr Gagdi claimed that Mr Obi failed to secure significant electoral gains in his constituency in previous elections.
“Peter Obi, I was in the state assembly in 2015, I was in the National Assembly from 2019 to 2023. I will talk about what I know. He did not win election in Pankshin, Kanke and Kanam,” he said.
He added that he secured victory in the 2023 election under the APC with a margin of 31,000 votes, which he said reflected the strength of the party’s support base in the area.
Beyond electoral politics, Mr Gagdi accused some opposition figures of exploiting Nigeria’s security challenges for political advantage rather than offering practical solutions.
According to him, political leaders should focus on supporting efforts to address insecurity rather than using the situation to score political points against the government.
“By the time we keep drifting to a perspective of playing politics with the security and lives of the people of this country, it will be unfortunate,” he said.
“We must collectively be patriotic. We must be united against terror.”
While acknowledging that insecurity remains one of the country’s most pressing challenges, Mr Gagdi said the Tinubu administration deserved recognition for taking steps to confront the problem.
“I will not refuse to tell you here that the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did make efforts towards solving the security problem,” he said.
“Promising to fix the security problem and putting effort toward fixing the security problem should be recognised.”
He maintained that criticism of government policies should be constructive and aimed at improving governance rather than securing electoral advantage.
“We should commend government where government needs to be commended and equally draw a line where government needs to make adjustments,” he said.
The lawmaker also weighed in on the ongoing debate over the proposed creation of state police, rejecting concerns raised by some opposition politicians about the timing of the initiative.
He questioned why critics were linking the proposal to the 2027 elections instead of assessing its potential impact on national security.
“Who is talking about the creation of state policing? Who in his right sense will only analyse the creation of State Police to 2027 election only?” he asked.
“If those people that you called their names are patriotic Nigerians, is it time that is their problem, or the killings?”
Mr Gagdi revealed that he had previously opposed state police because earlier proposals lacked adequate safeguards and could have encouraged abuse by state governors.
However, he said the constitutional framework currently under consideration by the National Assembly includes provisions to ensure accountability and prevent political interference.
“I saw the policy framework of the state policing that was intended to be created then as an anarchy,” he said.
“But I am privileged to work on the present legal framework that seeks to establish the new State policing under the new Section 214 of the Constitution.”
According to him, governors would not have unilateral powers to appoint or remove state police commissioners under the proposed arrangement.
“If before this time you wanted me to support state policing where governors would simply sit in their offices and appoint commissioners of police, I would not support it,” he said.
“But today, the legal framework says governors will nominate candidates to the Federal Police Council, which will determine who is fit.”
He added that the framework also protects state police commissioners from arbitrary dismissal.
“The clauses protect the proposed commissioners of police. No governor will sit within the comfort of his office and fire the commissioner of police,” he said.
“It means you have protected the person you are appointing.”
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Mr Gagdi further explained that the proposed state police structure would complement rather than replace the Nigeria Police Force, while expanding the country’s security architecture.
“We didn’t scrap the federal police. It still exists. The establishment of state policing doesn’t mean the federal police is going to be scrapped,” he said.
He argued that the new arrangement would encourage state and regional governments to invest more resources in security and improve responses to local threats.
“With the level of escalation of insecurity in Nigeria, everybody admits there is a problem,” he said.
“Now, with the effort to create State Police with a proper legal framework, why are the opposition complaining?”
The lawmaker urged political leaders across party lines to prioritise the protection of lives and property over partisan considerations, stressing that security should remain a collective national responsibility.
“What can we collectively do to make sure Nigerians sleep and snore. These should be the major things we should be talking about, and this should be what the opposition should be thinking,” he said.
