The National Youth Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dayo Israel, has constituted a 12-man high-level working group to help young aspirants clinch the party’s tickets.
The committee is mandated to receive requests for an endorsement from young aspirants of 40 years and below, who have purchased the party’s expression of interest and nomination forms.
The decision to set up the committee was contained in a statement by the national youth leader yesterday in Abuja.
The committee comprises Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad, Managing Director of Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency and Solape Hammond Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on SDGs and Investment as co-chairs.
Israel said: “You will recall my commitment on the assumption of office to ensure that we get more credible young people into public office in the 2023 elections. This led to the advocacy by my Deputy, Zonal Youth Leaders and I to mobilise for a 50 per cent discount on nomination forms for young people under the APC, which was approved by the NEC and the NWC.
“In furtherance of that concerted effort, I have constituted a high-level working group of outstanding young progressives from across the nation to engage party leaders and stakeholders on behalf of credible young aspirants who have shown remarkable excellence in service and interest in the progress and development of the people.
“The committee will receive a request for an endorsement from young aspirants 40 and below who have purchased the party’s expression of interest and nomination forms for House of Assembly, Governorship, House of Reps and Senate; review the submissions and decide on which of the young aspirants to put the support of the National Youth Wing behind.”
He added: “We hope that through this effort, we can secure a lot more seats and political support for young aspirants in the coming primaries.”
The youth leader directed youth aspirants to submit their information online at:https://youngprogressives.ng/2023aspirants/
Members of the committee are Ibrahim Hamza, SA to the Speaker on Humanitarian Affairs; Ahmad Rufai Zakari, Special Adviser to the President on Infrastructure; Ginika Tor, Federal Commissioner (Enugu State), Federal Character Commission; Sadiq S. Abubakar, former National Youth Leader of the APC.
Others are Wole Aboderin, Special Adviser to the President on NGOs, Office of the First Lady; Makinde Araoye, Special Adviser on Federal Matters to the Governor of Ekiti State; Dr. Abdul A Ibrahim, President Nigerian Weightlifters Association; Hassan Umar Kamfut, APC Youth Stakeholder Borno State, while Moremi Ojudu, SSA to the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly and Amaka Lawrence will serve as the secretary and technical assistant.