The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) as well as 50 other youth groups across the country have called on delegates of the All Progresses Congress (APC) to vote and support Senator Godswill Akpabio in the party’s primary election in Abuja.
In a statement made available to Journalists after an emergency meeting of NYCN and other 54 other affiliated youth groups in Abuja with the aim to present a common front based on national interest and the interest of the Nigerian youth as the 2023 elections draw closer, the group aligned itself with the progressive governor’s forum and describe Akpabio as a sure guarantee to victory.
“We the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) and 54 other affiliated Youth Groups herein appreciate the Progressive Governors Forum for throwing their support for a President of Southern extraction and in the same vein we call on the delegates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to vote and support His Excellency Distinguished Senator Godswill Akpabio, CON in today’s APC Presidential primary. An Akpabio is not only a sure guarantee to easy victory at the polls, but also a government of uncommon transformation as has been demonstrated in Akwa-Ibom State while he was a Governor and in the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs as the Honourable Minister,” the statement noted.
The youth groups insisted that aside his sterling performance, their choice of Akpabio was based on the fact that he is youth who has the energy and passion to work, adding that the Nigerian youth can not afford to leave governance in the 21st century to the older generation that have lost touch with the realities of the technological era.
“The decision to throw our hats in the ring in support of Senator Akpabio is because of the overwhelming support and individual youth group endorsements he has across the country. The youth believe that at this critical stage of the country, only a leader of the antecedents and standing of Distinguished Senator Akpabio should be trusted to lead the country”, the statement added.
The youths equally hailed his Pan-Nigerian posture of Chief Godswill Akpabio while in office as Governor and Minister of the Federal Republic.
They said Nigeria needs a leader who will not be a tribal or regional warlord but one who will see every Nigerian as his constituent and fellow patriot.
“Recall that as the Governor of Akwa-Ibom State, His Excellency demonstrated his Pan-Nigerianism by making all his interventionist and welfare programmes to enjoy national reach. In that regard, every Nigerian of whatever persuasion, resident in Akwa-Ibom benefitted from his free and compulsory education policy, education and other socio-economic support programmes.
“Even as the Honourable Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, he refused to run the Ministry with a parochial mentality of restricting everything to the region. Wherever a national touch is needed in the activities of the Ministry, he was willing and ready to display that nationalist spirit”, the statement continued.
While charging delegates and Nigerians to vote for national unity, the group insisted that Nigeria must not get it wrong this time around as the task of building a viable Nigeria is even more urgent now as it was before.
“At a time that the country must pursue the project of National Unity very vigorously, His Excellency, Senator Godswill Akpabio is the perfect candidate. We therefore present him to our dear delegates and leaders of the APC vote, support and adopt as the candidate of the party for the 2023 presidential election. We as a country can not afford to fail at our leadership selection process”, the statement concluded.