Alhaji Ismail Ahmed, Youths Representative in the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Caretaker and Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee(CECPC) says that youths in the party should not be taken for granted ahead of the 2023 general elections.
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He gave the warning on Thursday in Abuja at the inauguration of various committees at the party’s national secretariat ahead of its first National Progressives Youth Conference.
Ahmed said that youths might be the deciding factor in the 2023 general elections because of their numbers and should, therefore, not be taken for granted.
He stressed that because President Muhammadu Buhari would not be on the ballot for the party come 2023, the election would be a different ball game.
This, he said, was especially so because the usual ten millions votes the party gets because of Buhari might not be there.
According to him, the best President Buhari can give the party in terms of vote cast in 2023, is 50 per cent of the ten million votes he usually brings in.
Ahmed noted that the 50 per cent votes would come from the youths which must not be taken for granted ahead of 2023.
He, therefore, warned that unless the party gave hope and attention to the needs of youths, they would go to elsewhere.
“I keep saying it that 2023 is going to be a battle for the young people, as it has been clearly demonstrated.
“And, I say it every time that President Muhammadu Buhari always come to the table with ten million votes in every election he has participated in.
“But for the first time in 20 years, in 2023, President Buhari will not be on the ballot, this means we have to go looking for those ten million votes elsewhere,” he said.
He advised youths in the party to institutionalized the idea of being a progressive, adding that it was not enough to be just a card-carrying member of the party.
Ahmed said that the forthcoming APC National Youths Conference would be the biggest ever in the country’s political history.
He said that the conference would discuss the road map, vision, demands, and APC youths generally.
He thanked members of the committees for accepting to offer themselves to serve and expressed optimism that they would deliver beyond expectation.
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