A Forum, Northern Nigeria Youth Leaders (NNYLF) has distanced itself from calls demanding the resignation of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda.

Addressing journalists in Abuja on Saturday, NNYLF National President, Malam Murtala Mohammed Gamji, said those behind the resignation push lacked both the moral and political standing to issue such a threat.

The Forum’s position came barely 24 hours after a pro-APC group, the All Progressives Congress Youth Solidarity Network (APC-YSN) issued a two-week ultimatum asking Prof. Nentawe to step aside or face mass action.

In its statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Danesi Momoh Prince, the APC-YSN alleged that Nentawe had “Failed leadership tests in all parameters” and that the APC’s popularity was shrinking daily under his watch, a claim they argued could complicate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid.

However, the NNYLF President, Gamji pushed back hard, describing the Danesi-led network as a “Political hatchet team” and not a legitimate APC affiliate.

“That individual calling on our National Chairman to resign is not even a member of APC,” he alleged. “We schooled together in ABU Zaria.

He is from Auchi and a PDP member. He has even been sanctioned in the PDP circle in Auchi, Edo State. So we don’t know his link with our untouchable Chairman.”

Gamji stressed that Nentawe’s emergence had instead been attracting high-profile actors into the APC, not driving them away, and warned that no attempt to destabilise the current leadership would be tolerated ahead of the 2027 cycle.

He also debunked claims that the APC National Chairman was blocking Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, from defecting to the ruling party.

“That can never be possible,” he said.

“The National Chairman is a democrat and cannot stop any governor from joining the APC. The governor himself admitted publicly that he is under pressure to join APC. Nobody is stopping him.”

The Forum further dismissed calls on President Tinubu to investigate the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, describing the sponsors of such agitation as enemies of national stability.