By ADEYEMI ADELEYE

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State has dismissed Prof. Udenta Udenta’s prediction of the party collapsing before 2027 general elections.

The APC Spokesman, Mr Seye Oladejo, in a statement on Wednesday described Udenta’s prophecies as ‘theatrics, cheap and empty talk.’

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), recalls that Udenta, the founding National Secretary of the Alliance for Democracy, in a TV interview on Tuesday declared that “APC will collapse before 2027.”

Reacting, Oladejo said that rather than collapse, the ruling party was increasing in leaps and bounds and getting stronger each day.

He said: “Let us be generous with a lesson in political reality: predicting the fall of a party from a studio chair does not make the forecast true.

“Prof. Udenta’s interview was loud on rhetoric and short on evidence – a predictable pattern when critics mistake wishful thinking for analysis.

“We invite him to step out of the broadcast booth and tour our structures, where millions of Nigerians are organising, volunteering and registering their commitment to progressive governance.”

He said that the party acknowledged Udenta as a distinguished professor of cultural studies and creative writing, “but fiction should not be mistaken for reality.’’

According to Oladejo, politicking belongs to the real world and should not be mixed with part-time fake prophetic permutations to suit personal interests or sports-betting-style political forecasts.

He added: “Such risky predictions could publicly undress otherwise respected personalities if not grounded in facts on the ground.

“Our dear professor will do well to maintain his lane or should we now be asking: is Prof. Udenta also among the prophets?”

The spokesman said that if Udenta’s anxiety was genuine, the professor should study what real political organisation looks like.

According to him, panic is not the rumour of collapse.

“Panic is the party that spends its days literally on bended knees persuading its few notable members left not to abandon the sinking ship.

“On the flip side, APC’s unity and expansion defines stability and defies the theoretical postulation of the prophets of doom,” he said.

Oladejo said that the APC’s focus remained service delivery, institutional reform and broadening our national reach.

He said that the party would not be distracted by “melodrama” or by those who profited from perpetual crisis.

“To those peddling collapse fantasies we say: do your worst, we will continue to govern, organise and win the argument at the ballot box and in the communities where Nigerians live their daily lives.

“For the record, APC remains confident, resilient and focused.

“Those that traffic in doom-mongering should check the registers, visit the wards and behold the crowd that is where power is grown, not announced on air. APC builds, detractors prognosticate,” he added. (NAN)

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