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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Worried by the ongoing leadership crisis in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the Nigerian Youth Union (NYU), has warned the party against causing confusion in the polity.
NYU expressed dismay that the ruling party could not put its house in order barely eleven months to the 2023 crucial general elections.
In a statement released to journalists in Abuja, on Friday, the National President of Nigerian Youth Union (NYU) Comrade Chinonso Obasi, regretted that APC is not showing leadership in its conduct and internal bickering.
Obasi, a former National President of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), said it was worrisome that at a time Nigerian youths have resolved to take active part in the selection of the country’s leaders the ruling party continues to misbehave.
“We are not deceived by this infighting within APC, which is in control of the federal government. It appears to be a dangerous plot to smuggle in accidental leaders for Nigerians to choose from. This is not acceptable. Nigerians want to assess candidates for leadership positions.
“This infighting within APC is distracting the people from the burning issues that should constitute the talking points for the evaluation of the country’s next crop of leaders. If the ruling party cannot at this point resolve their internal politics, what is the guarantee that it would throw up competent persons for the general election,” Obasi stated.
NYU blamed the ugly developments in APC to President Muhammadu Buhari’s failure to show leadership, stressing that the vacuum created by the President’s absentee leadership has given rise to the infighting among interest groups within the ruling party.
The NYU President stated that after the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held a successful national convention last December where its elected new members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), Nigerians expected that in the first quarter of 2022, APC would elect its own leaders to pave the way for smooth preparation for 2023 poll.
He stated: “It is interesting to note that both the Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF) of APC and PDP Governors’ Forum (PDP GF) are all led by former lawmakers. But, it remains a puzzle why Senator Atiku Bagudu could not organize his brother APC governors the same way Aminu Waziri Tambuwal rallied his fellow PDP governors to hold a peaceful convention.
“This is part of the reason Nigerian youths have resolved to look closely into the leadership pedigrees of all those who would be interested in the country’s Presidency in 2023, because one cannot give what one does not have.
“The earlier the two big parties settle their internal politics, the better for Nigerians to begin re-examining their state of preparedness to move Nigeria out of the woods. Nigerian youths are ready and waiting to start asking critical questions from our politicians.”
