The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda in a tune of conviction on Wednesday said the ruling party would win the 2027 general elections convincingly.
The Chairman, who spoke when the former Youth Leaders of the party paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Abuja, charged the youths of the party to take their participation beyond the social media.
According to him, the youths must make the relevance in election been felt at the polling units.
The chairman told the Former Youth Leaders that the party believes in the youth as they are the pillars of successful political parties, stating that their participation to the victory of APC in election would determine their participation in government.
Speaking, he said, “Youths are the pillar of political parties.
“We will win and win convincingly in 2027. This is the assurance I will give to you.
“I will want the youths to participate from social media to the polling units.
After participating in the primaries, l will like you to participate in election. When positions are shared, l want you people to have a large chunk of the positions.”
Stating the need for youths to participate in politics, the APC National Chairman said, “The President stated politics as a Youth. From Awolowo till date. The reason he is entrenched in politics. We will make sure that the youths have a place in government.”
However, speaking after the meeting, the National Cordinator of the Former Youth Leaders, Comrade Godson Dickson said, “We are happy to be here today. This is a body of former National Youth leaders, deputies, zonals, states, senatorial districts, and to the level of ward. We have come to pay a courtesy call to our National Chairman, the Prof, with our National Youth Leader, Honorable Dayo Israel. We are here to let them know that this body is ready to work with the party.
“This body, I believe, is the strongest body when you talk about politics, because this is a youth body that cut across from national to the wards, to the booths. We are here to make sure we give our support to Mr. President who has done marvellously well in this nation. From my right-hand side, you can see the former National Youth Leaders.
“From the left, you can see former National Youth leaders, zonals, states. We, as far as former AD, ACN, youth leader, all the legacy parties, and other progressive parties who believe in what we believe, we are here to let people know, to let the world know, that we are strongly and ready to work with Asiwaju, and we want to thank the National Chairman whom we just left his office, for the wonderful advice he gave to us. He made mention of us, let us not be a social media organisation.
“I can tell you, youth body cannot be a social media organisation. Our Director of Media, who is by my side, flew in from Lagos, because it’s not a social media thing. I came in from Port Harcourt, a lot of us from Kano, and so on and so forth.
“So, we want to let the world know that this body exists, and we have started our movement. With time, we’ll get in touch with the states, the governors within the country, we’ll pay them a courtesy call, go around to let them know. You cannot do or run an election without the youth.
“The youth is in the heart of politics in this country, all over the world. Because we will do the structure, we will be there, we are going to start from morning to night, to defend the votes, and also do the needful by making sure the rightful thing is done. I want to thank everybody, my colleagues here, the EXCO members, a few of us, some people outside.
“As we are talking, this body, I can assure you, if tomorrow is election, next tomorrow is election, this body is prepared to mobilise up to 10 million youths. Even if election is tomorrow, next tomorrow, this body is ready, we are capable and we are ready to mobilise up to million youths to go to the poll and make sure the rightful thing is done. We believe in democracy and we are ready to work with everybody, give our support to President Asiwaju. You have done marvellously well.
“I know it’s not easy. If you are a politician, some of these people say it’s what they are supposed to do. If they don’t say it, that means there is no opposition.
So they are doing what they are supposed to do. And we believe, we are taking off, because we are going to take this opportunity to visit states and let them know that this body is ready to galvanize and reach out to the grassroots. It’s not a butcher programme, it’s a grassroots programme, from wards and polling units.
“In addition to my National Coordinator, one of the aims of our coming here is to partner with the party as a beautiful stakeholder and as a member of the legacy party. We have been there, but we felt we should come on board to introduce ourselves to the current National Chairman, to partnership with the APC, and we are ready.
“Our networks are alive. Our structures are still existing. Being the former National Leader, we have each and every one of us standing here. He has his structure during his tenure. We are bringing in this structure on board in 2027 to see how we can mobilize 10 million votes for us. Thank you very much”, Lado Suleja said.
Some other members of the Forum are: Comrade. Benedict Godson, National Coordinator, Hon. Lado Suleja, Deputy National Coordinator, Hon. Sobande Sesan, Director Media and Publicity, Hon. Bosun Oladele, Abubakar Sadiq, Director Planning and Strategy, Dr. Terver Aginde, Barr. Chijioke Ikpo, National Legal Adviser, Abdulrahman Baffa Yola, National Secretary and Abubakar Tijjani Wowo.
End.
