SETTING OUR PRIORITIES RIGHT: An Open letter to the National Youth Leader of the All Progressives Congress.

 

I can no longer remain silent while the struggles, efforts and sacrifices of the founding youths of our party to ensure inclusion in party and national politics are gradually eroded as the National Youth Leader seems distracted by his celebrity style of running the esteemed office. 

At the risk of this statement being misconstrued as a personal attack on Mr Dayo Isreal, we cannot but address the following issues for the love of our party : 

1. Usurpation of State Powers

While the capacity of the National Youth Leader as the number one Youth is uncontestable, the constitution of our party did not create the office of State Youth Leader for mere decoration.  

There’s a clear line between local and national issues which falls in the jurisdiction of the State Chairmen and the National Youth Leader respectively in accordance with the provision of the constitution. 

This clarification becomes important in the wake of a programme solely organized by the National Youth Leader to meet Gubernatorial, Senatorial and House of Representatives aspirants from various states without the knowledge of their State Youth Leaders. 

If it becomes imperative to meet the aspirants at all, courtesy and protocol demands that such invitation passes through the respective State Youth Leaders as these aspirants are first party members at the state level before any national affiliation. 

Again, the party is at the height of the political season and the accompanying volatility is palpable. Each state thus has its way of managing the situation with respect to its peculiar “politico-thinking. 

These peculiarities must be respected to avoid creating unnecessary tension. Hence, it is advisable that this meeting waits till the party officially ratifies candidates across board before any such move.  

2. Absence of Quality Representation. 

A visit to the annals of history would continue to applaud the leadership of Barrister Ismael Ahmed for his impact in championing the cause of the youth beyond ordinary participation to significant inclusion.

The position of youths as critical stakeholders in the political process is a key advantage for us as the second-largest demography of the party. 

If you agree, then we must demand that our leader mention names of youth on the recently constituted ad hoc committee set up by the party as we don’t want to believe the rumour making the rounds that Mr Dayo Isreal nominated people outside the youth age bracket in place of numerous eminently qualified youths. 

We also note that women got two automatic slots on the same delegate list youths have no one to identify with. 

We must ask ourselves at this juncture if are not missing the road already? Is our National Youth Leader not carried away with visitations rather than the yearnings for concrete inclusion? 

If the youth could not get automatic slots on the delegate list like the women, have we not been reduced to second fiddle in the scheme of things? 

While expecting answers, on a final note, I will like to admonish our National Youth leader to ensure that the inclusion of youths is taken beyond rhetorics. 

His efforts so far which include reduction of form fee for young aspirants is commendable but it should go beyond that. A youth aspiring to be a member of the State House of Assembly still has to spend over N500,000 for screening and nomination form alone despite the slash, how many youths can afford that within the party? 

He could have also taken the youth advocacy a step further by ensuring youths got a sit on the Election and Appeal panel among other strategic ways. 

We must set our priorities, and set them right before it's too late! 

20th May 2022.

Signed:

PRINCE JOHN OYETUNJI AREMU 

OYO STATE APC YOUTH LEADER

Location: Ibadan, Nigeria

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