By Lukman Olabiyi
The Dayo Israel-led All Progressive Congress (APC) National Youth Wing is set to inaugurate its novel campaign council, formed to mobilize youth votes for the party in the coming elections on Friday, January 13, at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Hall, Murtala Square, in Kaduna State.
Israel, who is the National Youth Leader of the party, made the announcement on Tuesday in a statement, in which he reiterated the wing’s commitment to its pledge to secure 50 million youth votes for the party next month.
He will be joined at the January 13 inauguration by other leaders of the party, notably the governor of the host state, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, leaders and members of the council, elected leaders of the youth wing, and party stakeholders from across the country.
The over 200,000-member strong council comprises 176,846 polling unit youth leaders, 774 LGA youth leaders, 37 state youth leaders, and six zonal youth leaders that make up the party’s youth wing. They will be joined by other grassroots mobilizers and young members of the party with expertise in research, data and election management, media strategy, and public engagement.
The inauguration will mark the actuation of the council’s directorates and the unveiling of other campaign materials and innovations. This includes the Jagaban’s Army, a sub-directorate tasked with grassroots mobilization through foot soldiers represented in all the polling units of the country to engage and persuade voters with the support of a canvassers’ record sheet which will also be unveiled at the event.
Other sub-directorates such as Jagaban’s Airforce and BAT’s envoy responsible for media engagements and public affairs respectively, will also be formally launched.
The wing will also unveil the ‘Young Progressives’ mobile app recently designed and uploaded to the Google Play Store to provide timely updates on its activities – including campaign engagements – and aid inclusive and inter-departments collaboration for the attainment of its declared objectives. This is in addition to the unveiling of pledge cards designed to draw commitments from the electorate across the country towards the party’s poll success.
The council led by Dayo Israel is the first of its kind in the history of the party’s youth wing and indeed the country, particularly for a presidential campaign and with representation down to all the polling units of the country.