…Dismisses the Obidients

Ahead of the 2027 general elections, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has launched what it calls the Youth Resource Centre.

The APC National Youth Leader, Israel Dayo, who unveiled the centre to the media on Wednesday, said with such a centre, the APC Youths were ready to take on the Obidients on the social media space.

Israel submitted that the APC youths, which cut across all strata of Nigeria, are not in any way intimidated by what the Obidients were doing.

He enumerated what advantages the centre would accord to APC Youths, which he said included subsidised purchase of goods, job creation, training and political participation.

Israel, however, raised an alarm about the likelihood of Nigerian youths swinging their support to other political parties, especially the coalition block for the 2027 general elections.

He observed that politicians will rely heavily on the massive votes of youths, but stated, however, that the APC has started a process of restructuring and rebranding the party to halt and frustrate plans and efforts by other parties to sway Nigerian youths and divert their votes away from the party.

He said the challenges to engage the youths properly has to do with poor funding from the national secretariat of the party, lack of enlightenment and engagement programmes directed at the youth and women population have started to have some toll and negative effect on the confidence of the target groups and may affect them supporting the party and the president in the future.

He said, “We are hoping that when the APC gets a permanent site like the president directed, the youth wing of the party might even be given a whole structure as its office, but before that, we have to do a lot to begin to support the youth of our nation.

“The Labour Party and others are trying and doing everything possible to hijack the youths for their votes as we head to the 2027 general elections. We need to be proactive and start engaging our youths now so that we can deliver their votes in the election to Mr. President.

“We have developed a three-year development plan on how we want to engage the youths, but we felt that it is only proper to set up this resource centre first, where youths can meet and rub minds with policy makers.”

Israel outlined several skills and other empowerment programmes that would be offered by the resource centre, and stated categorically that when APC youths are properly equipped and empowered, other parties will not pose any serious threat to the ruling party either before, during or after the general elections.

Apart from taking proper inventory of ÀPC youths across the country, he said, the resource centre hopes to immediately commence radical public engagement and enlightenment programmes targeting all sectors of youths, including the students in higher institutions, to ensure massive votes for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reelection in 2027.

Asked about the Obidients, he dismissed them, stating that they were not a threat to APC youths.