APC Youth Leader task party leadership on communication, grassroots engagements
Mr Dayo Isreal, APC National Youth Leader has said there is need for the party`s leadership to give priority to communication and grassroots engagements.
He said this on Wednesday in Abuja while speaking at a conversational round table with the theme; Electorate and Elections: The Parties, The People and The Possibilities.
The event was organised by Mr Ismaeel Ahmed, a chieftain and a former National Youth Leader of the APC to mark his 43rd birthday.
Isreal noted that waiting till election period before communicating and engaging those at the grassroots especially, was not in the interest of the party.
He said the greatest take away from the just concluded general elections was that Nigerian electorate had become more conscious of their political power to choose who governed them.
He added that politics would never be the same in the country again, after the Feb. 25 presidential and National Assembly election and the March 25 governorship and State Houses of Assembly election.
This, he said, was because the electorate had become more politically conscious, adding that priority should therefore be given to communication and grassroots engagements not just during elections, but across the electoral circle.
“We must continue to communicate and engage the people, I believe that by the grace of Almighty, the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, will do exceptional much more than can be imagined.
“And we will have less work to do in 2027 because we would have had a government that would have done exceptionally well that Nigerians will say let’s give him a second chance,” he said.
Isreal advised political leaders to always ask what the people wanted before embarking on developmental projects, saying it was not enough to embark on development project
He added that it was important to carry the people along in all project implementation through constant communication and engagement.
He stressed the need for youths in the party to have a united front to speak and negotiate for better deal for Nigerian youths.
The APC National Youth Leader described Ismaeel as a great patriot and a space seater who had paid his dues in politics.
Also speaking at the event, Dr Nkem Okeke, a former Deputy Governor of Anambra, said the introduction of BVAS technology by INEC changed the narrative in the just concluded elections.
He said there was need for politicians especially to being to take to account of their actions and comments in public.
He noted that if America despite its electronic voting and transmission of election results still had issues with its elections, Nigeria’s election could only get better with time
He added that those in power occupying elective offices must always do the right thing so they would be judged rightly by history.
The former Anambra Deputy Governor said the ongoing debate over the outcome of the Feb. 25 presidential election and the emargence of Sen. Bola Tinubu as President-elect was based on propaganda and sentiments.
He said Nigeria could only be made better by Nigerians, adding that we could not continue to complain but to join efforts to enthrone a Nigeria that works for all.
Ahmed the celebrant in his remark, stressed the need for youths in the party to set an agenda for themselves and work in unity.
He said it was unfortunate that rather that institutionalise power, power had been individualised, adding that there was need for the party to be supreme.
He said though the just concluded elections was free, fair and credible, there was need for improvement and was the case in every elections in the world.
Ahmed said he had been discussing contemporary issues affecting the society, constituencies, the country generally and the citizens with young people.
He said the event was to talk about the just concluded elections, lessons leant and the way forward to strengthen our electoral system and political party structures.
He said it was also to come up with ways of helping the incoming administration in making sure it created a synergy between the old and the young generation.
He said the just concluded elections was a great improvement on privious elections in the country even from 1999.
“INEC has done well because as a party in government, we lost election where we had never lost before: Lagos, Yobe and some other states which had never happened before.
“A government in power had never lost election in Kastina for example before, especially when the incumbent president is from that state.
“We lost election in the Villa, we lost completely and was almost absent in the South-East and we didn’t have a major inroad in the South-south,”he noted.
Ahmed added that even the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)won in Osun which was supposed to be one of Tinubu’s strong holds.
He said the the genuineness and transparency of the 2023 general elections could not be faulted, adding that it should be made a reference point in the country’s political history.
He said while the opposition parties had the right to go to court to challenge a few flaws noticed at the elections to test the veracity of their claims, they were not doing themselves and the country at large any good.
“We should rather look forward to how to strengthen and amend the new Electoral Act to ensure that some of the lapses noticed in the elections were addressed before next election,” he said.
According to him, this will ensure more credibility, transparency and more citizen participation in the electoral process in the future (https:/) newsatlarge.ng)