The youth wing of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), on Monday urged the party’s leaders to connect with their wards through conduct of regular ward meetings
The APC youths, therefore, pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and other leaders of the party to hold meetings with members of the party in their various wards, so as to be conversant with development in the various wards of the party .
The Representative of the Youth in the Caretaker Committee, Ismaeel Ahmed who made the call at the National Secretariat of the party in Abuja said such meetings would strengthen the party as it would give members in the ward a sense of belonging.
Speaking at the meeting with zonal and state Youth Leaders, Ahmed said that the 2023 general elections would be tough as there would be no incumbent President contesting in the election.He therefore called on the President and other leaders of the party to initiate ward meetings with members of the party for proper positioning of APC.
According to him such meeting would revatalize and strengthen APC at the ward levels.
He said, “APC won the 2015 General elections because APC worked hard.
“We need to work hard if we have to win the 2023 General elections. As you no it would be an election without an incumbent President contesting in it.
“l expect that for the President and other leaders to hold ward meetings, it must start from you who are the Youth Leaders.
“The challenges that the party is having is the distance between the leader and the led”
Addressing the Youth Leaders, Ahmed also said that APC should yearly celebrate its birth, as it won Presidential election 2 years after it was registered.
He said, “As you all know, our journey is over 6 years old; many would say that this party has doñe very well for itself in this short a period: we have captured the most coveted political’seat of the country, the Office of the President, we have established a majority, and leadership in the two chambers of the country’s National Assembly; we have won over státes that were in the opposition- and even though we have lost some due to unavoidable errors, and we maintain a majority of Governors in the country.
“Our party has done fairly well. It is one that we can beat our chest and say that we are proud of. Yet, in this period that we have sailed, we have experienced some mistakes, some failures and even internal maladministration. This has led to bickering, in-fighting and distrust among our members.”
On the need for the meeting, he said, “I have called this meeting, first to brief you on what we as a Committee are doing, and second to hear from you, on what we want this party to become, especially on matters that concern the youth, and thirdly to forge a common direction that we all can be proud of.
“The National Caretaker/ Extraordinary Convention Committee has since its
inaugutation in June undertaken several proposals to reform and restructure our party for the better. One critical thing that we have set our minds, our hearts, and feet towards is ensuring that this party is united and presents, at all times, a common front. I can assure you that we are continuously working towards the resolution of disputes and disagreements among our party leaders. In no time, we would begin to see results.”
