BY BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, ABUJA
Zonal and states youth leaders and other critical youth stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress led by Terva Aginde, North Central Youth leader, have called on the Department of State Security to effect the arrest of Mustapha Audu and his cohorts for breach of the peace in the country through unwarranted and highly provocative campaign of calumny against key leaders of the party.
The youth leaders, who stormed the Buhari House national secretariat of the party to convey their unalloyed loyalty and support for the Mai Mala Buni-led CECPC, also stated in clear terms, the position of the youth leadership of APC on what the youth body called “the totally unwarranted and highly provocative campaign of destabilisation launched against key leaders and organs of the party by an ill-mannered and ill-defined group calling itself ‘The Progressive Youth Movement’ and claiming to be acting on behalf of the youth of the APC.”
The meeting which was convened and attended by all youth leaders of the APC from across the 36 states of the federation and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), stated the following in their communique:
“That Nigeria as a multiparty democracy, operates under the rule of law, and no law, including The Not Too Young To Run Act, confers on any citizen or group under any guise the right of lawlessness or impunity in action, irrespective of actual or perceived grievance(s).
“That the All Progressives Congress is Nigeria’s governing party which is duly registered as a political party by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as required by the Law. Therefore, all operations of the party must be guided by Constitutional provisions of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Electoral Act and the Party’s Constitution.
“That His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, by all laws and conventions in Nigeria, is the undisputed leader of our Party and of her National Executive Committee (NEC) and is not only entitled to, but must be accorded, the full compliments of his person and various offices per time.
“That the Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the APC set up by NEC under the leadership of His Excellency, Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State as Chairman is proper and lawful in all ramifications
“That the so-called Progressives Youth Movement led by Mustapha Audu does not have any constitutional right to preside, speak for or represent any opinion(s) of the wing of the party.
“That the PYM, once before and again on Monday, 29th November, 2021 made a very public attempt to overthrow the legitimately constituted leadership of the APC in a manner that can only be described as felonious. The legitimate Youth leadership of the party sees their actions as an insult to the sensibility of all APC members in Nigeria.
“The PYM appears to be heavily funded by and is deeply in the service of vicious vested interests with the sole intent of destabilising the APC as a party and will be gratified by a resultant breakdown of law and order in Nigeria if not curtailed”.
The body also in its resolution, declared its total support for the CECPC and consider any attack on the CECPC as an attack on the President and the Supreme Court of Nigeria and therefore will not entertain any further mischief from any quarters.
The statement also noted that the Youth leadership of the party will sign a petition to the DSS, the IGP and the AGF to bring to book these imposters who are trying to cause breach of public peace, as they will not tolerate any further attack by some mischief makers on Mr. President and the leadership of the party.
They called on all states youth leaders to take note of all the activities of youth support groups in their respective states and in particular, the said PYM.
