All Progressives Youth Forum (APYF) Held press conference on Post-Election

Protocols:

Gentle men of the press, I welcome you to this press conference on behalf of the entire membership, executive and stakeholders of Kwara State chapter of our noble Forum, the All Progressives Youth Forum (APYF).

Permit us to start by congratulating the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Vice-president elect, Senator Kashim Shettima for scaling through all the hurdles and intricacies of internal and external political forces to emerge victorious at the end of the recently concluded 2023 Presidential elections.

In the same vein, we would also want to use this opportunity to commend and congratulate our amiable governor of the people and of the masses, His Excellency Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq for his well deserved second term victory. APYF members, having served in campaign councils at both the State and Federal levels, feel personally fulfilled with the victories of the APC across board. We rejoice with all our elected legislators, Senators-elect and House of Representatives members-elect in Kwara State for their cheerful victory and wish them a rewarding time in the service of our people.

As you may have known, the APYF is a nationally renowned group birthed in 2013 with the aim of spearheading the struggle for youth inclusion within the dynamics of party politics. The group exists to create opportunities for talented and resourceful young people to get involved in governance activities by engaging effectively in political activities, and that is why our motto encourages young people to take part to take charge.

While over the years, our members at the national level and across the country have continued to offer their best to the sustenance of the progressive ideals of the APC in order to ensure the party continues to wax stronger; we in Kwara State under the umbrella of our Forum, APYF, have at every point made significant contributions towards ensuring the victory of our party at the polls. We repeated the same feat in the just concluded 2023 elections, joining other party stakeholders in working to deliver an overwhelming victory for the APC in all elections in Kwara State.

Kwara APYF makes bold to say that it is only Kwara State that has delivered near perfect and incontrovertible election results for Presidential and National Assembly elections especially across the 19 Northern states. We were able to successfully deliver the APC Presidential candidate with a landslide margin. Same applied to our elected National Assembly members; Senate and House of Representatives which include three Senators with two on return ticket and one first timer, also all six House of Representatives members with three on return ticket and others being first timers.

It is pertinent to emphasize at this juncture, that this outstanding results of APC for Presidential and National Assembly in Kwara State were achieved due to a combination of several factors. First, the APC family enjoys a robust leadership style under the able leadership of Governor Abdulrahman who is able unite the members and stakeholders alike. In the areas governance, His Excellency, Gov. Abdulrazaq has performed creditably in the various sectors. The Kwara contingent in the 9th National Assembly have also done a lot by facilitating several developmental projects to various senatorial districts and federal constituencies. These combined efforts of the leaders have helped in confidence building and reaffirming the loyalty of existing members of the party, while equally attracting new members to the APC family.

Also, the undying love the APC family in Kwara State have towards His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which is premised on his leadership prowess and the many sacrifices he has made and the many prices he paid in championing democracy in the first instance and also building the APC as a reform-minded political party all combined together to ease the party to victory for our great party. Of course, the resolve of the people to sustain the governance of the country under the APC, which is so far believed to be safer and better than what was experienced in the locust years of the opposition PDP, all helped deliver a deserved victory for our party.

On its part, the Kwara APYF made significant contributions, both at the pre-primary stage and the campaign proper to ensure our party achieve victory in the 2023 election. While we have members who worked on the presidential campaign council to deliver Asiwaju Tinubu; APYF in Kwara, among other activities and contributions towards ensuring victory for our party embarked on the following:

Organized a debate for the party aspirants which served as an avenue for our candidates to showcase their previous achievements to the electorate.

Organized a door to door campaign for the party in the three senatorial districts.

Produced sourvenirs such as Face caps, shirts etc which were distributed to party loyalists across the State.

Organized the first pro-APC rally in Kwara State tagged “Emilokan mega rally” after the primaries.

Visited select traditional rulers to showcase the achievements of the All progressive Congress in both Kwara State and at the national level.

Participated in various Gubernatorial and Presidential campaign committees.

Engaged electorate on various social media platforms to showcase the competences of our candidates.

Produced billboards as our contribution to the party and our candidates.

Helped with mobilization during the party registration exercise.

Printed and distributed flyers to inform, sensitize and mobilize party members as well as other electorate to register to vote and to obtain their voters cards.

It is pertinent to note that as a group of highly committed party members, Kwara APYF did all the aforementioned with our resources, which we contributed amongst ourselves with little or no external funding from anyone. We therefore consider our contributions in the just concluded elections fairly deserving of acknowledgement by our leaders at both the State and the national level, especially considering that our party has indicated its resolve to prioritize a fair reward for all party members who commit and work for the success and progress of the party like we have done.

OUR PRAYERS:
We wish to submit the following as our prayers with the hope that they will be granted during the formation of the cabinets of their Excellences, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq:

1. That two Ministerial slots for Kwara State should be sustained by the incoming administration considering the contribution of the State to the overall victory of APC; however the criteria for the next appointees should be based on merit, loyalty and commitment to party activities at the state level. In addition to this, all appointments of federal board members, heads of parastatals, and relevant appointments due to Kwara State should be based on merit, commitment and loyalty to the party as against what we have in the outgoing administration where individuals who actively worked against the party were given appointments in APC led administration.

2. That Kwara State deserves and is indeed qualified for leadership and other principal offices of both chambers of the National Assembly. We have Senator Sadiq Suleiman Umar and Senator Lola Hashiru, both second term Senators, at the upper chamber, while at the lower chamber we have Hon. Omar Mohammed Bio, Raheem Ajuloopin and Ismail Tijani who are all returning members. All of them are committed and responsible party leaders, and they have all performed wonderfully well in their respective capacities and deserve to be so recognized and rewarded.

3. That Kwara APC youths should be given reasonable consideration in terms of political appointments, as Board Chairmen/members, Heads of Agencies, Presidential and Vice Presidential aides, as they formed the pillars that propelled the success of the 2023 Presidential election. We also appeal to His Excellency, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to consider the tenacity and devotion of our Forum and reward our members accordingly.

4. Finally, Kwara women also deserve special presence in the incoming Tinubu/Shettima led administration, as their roles and support during the Presidential campaigns were invaluable, and they crowned it with massive votes during the election. We appeal that competent, versatile and progressive minded young women be considered.

Thank you all, and may God continue to bless Kwara State and Nigeria.