The All Progressives Congress, APC, National Youth leader, Ibrahim Dasuki Jalo, has requested all those jostling to become the next president of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, NYCN, to wait until an appropriate mechanism is put in place to ensure a crisis-free exercise.
This was as he stressed that contrary to insinuations, the governing party has not endorsed and does not intend to have any preferred candidate.
Hon. Jalo, who addressed journalists on the matter at the party’s Secretariat yesterday in Abuja, suggested that youth council election ought to have been delayed until the appointment of a minister who would help coordinate the youth affairs.
He called on Nigerians to disregard some of the aspirants already declaring themselves as leader of the council or associating themselves with the APC, adding that no elections has been held in that regard.
His words, “There was supposed to be an election for the NYCN but we all witnessed what happened particularly that the election could not hold because of the crises, but for the reason that President Muhammadu Buhari’s government is new, therefore they have to make sure that all things are in place before they can go ahead with the election.
“Though, we heard that some people are saying they emerged the leadership of the council but to my own understanding, there was no election and the party has not endorsed anybody and the party has not asked anybody to contest for any position. What we are looking forward to is to ensure that new executive council members are in place, particularly the Minister of Youth who will be responsible for the conduct of the NYCN election.”
While insisting that the right mechanisms should be put in place if an election is going to hold to ensure that things are done in proper manner, Jalo said: “Let me give example of my state, Gombe. From my investigation, there was no youth council election for the past ten years, so if you want to build a structure, you have to start from the foundation, so, youth council election to my understanding will have to start from the local government to state and the federal, that’s how you get your delegates and know who are to come and vote for the national leaders”.
Speaking on the crisis that stalled the youth council election, the APC youth leader stressed that his party cannot be blamed for it, as “We have to make sure that we look into it thoroughly and address some of the problems we inherited before we can come up with a position”.
He noted that youth development was one of the major three point priority of President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that Nigerian youths will soon be the better for it.
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