From Jude Chinedu, Enugu
Youths of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) have pledged their support for the leadership of their National Chairman, Sly Ezeokenwa.
They urged him not to be distracted by the antics of those seeking to undermine the party, both internally and externally, including the recent purported recognition of Edozie Njoku as his replacement by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The youths asserted that the party’s current structure represented the dreams of its founding fathers, which the national chairman embodied.
They noted that Mr Ezeokenwa had worked diligently to entrench the vision of the party’s founders and criticised the unscrupulous elements attempting to destabilise APGA.
National Youth Leader of APGA Echezona Onyebuchi-Chukwu, stated this in Enugu in a statement titled, “Sly Ezeokenwa We Know, Edozie Njoku We Don’t Know”.
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The statement read: “APGA had never been a youth party until Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo came onboard and found trust in the capacity of the youths, which saw the handing over of the entire party structure to the youth leadership. For the first time in the history of Nigerian politics, a youth yet to be 40 years old was trusted enough to lead a top-five national political party as its National Chairman.
“This, of course, is an answered prayer to the youths of Nigeria who have over the years been marginalised and tactically sidelined in leadership positions of any kind in the country. We, the youths of APGA, will not trade this new turn of events for any political gimmicks.
“We, the youths of APGA, are not unaware of the new twist of things where falsehood thinks itself popular enough to outshine the truth. We are in APGA because APGA came to us first. We accepted Barr Ezeokenwa Jr because he’s one of us, and anything short of that is short of us.
“Since his inception, Sly Ezeokenwa has constantly reiterated his resolve to turn APGA into a youth-oriented political party where aspirants will stand as candidates based on age, merit, and competence. He has, on many occasions, promised the youths his first consideration, giving young people the hope they have lost in contesting and winning elections without a godfather in Nigeria, where money replaces competency. This we will not throw away because of desperate politicians.
“We will not go back to Egypt. We have trust in APGA because of the chairman who represents the new order. Chief Edozie Njoku and his cohorts obviously represent the old order, where desperation and impunity play the major role. We have gone past the days of impunity and desperation. He represents the rot in the system that the youths want to flush out.”
Mr Onyebuchi-Chukwu added that the APGA youth leadership expected those trying to undermine the party, allegedly led by Mr Njoku, to focus on building it up rather than tearing it down.