SUPPORT ABUBAKAR BARDE DANLADI FOR APC NATIONAL YOUTH LEADER

My Declaration of Intent for the Position of National Youth Leader for the All Progressives Congress (APC): The Glory Road.

I Abubakar Barde, with all sense of purpose and responsibility, hereby humbly declare my intention to run for the seat of the National Youth Leader of our insurmountable party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the coming national congress on 23rd June, 2018. It is a new dawn in the practice and impact of democracy in Nigeria today. Our great party the APC became the amplifier of the subtle whispers of the common man from different works of life, yearnings, hope and aspirations, which into one thunderous voice that opened the deaf ears of leadership and incapacitated the oppressors of the weak and defenseless.

The APC was able to make democratic history in the 2015 elections by recognizing the potency of the resilience and vibrancy of Nigerian Youths. APC faces its greatest challenge yet despite the tremendous strides the party has achieved through the purposeful leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, all the APC State Governors, legislators as well as the unrivaled stewardship of the Honourable Ministers and Party Executives. Nay Sayers may adjudge our glorious victory in 2015 a bolt from the blue, but the 2019 election presents a wonderful opportunity for us to prove that the APC lightning, can in deed strike more than once.

A few retrogressive Nigerians are working tirelessly to return the country back to its corruption friendly days because three years down the lane, they can no longer endure the sweat and struggles of honest earnings. All of a sudden, they are realizing the power of the youths and they are working hard at turning us against this delivery-based government of President Muhammadu Buhari  and the APC, so that they can finish where they left off in mortgaging our individual and collective futures. I, Abubakar Barde and many of my contemporaries have seen their bluff, and we are here to call it.

I throw in my hat to be considered for the position of the National Youth Leader for APC in the most beautiful familial atmosphere any progressive democracy can provide. My co-aspirants and I, are eager tools in the hands of our mighty party, to chisel the minds of youths from every corner of this glorious nation Nigeria, into realizing the necessity of an APC continuity. After due diligence, I have come to realize that all that have come out for this position today, are young men with the wherewithal to captain the youth ship through the stormy future that lies ahead. All of us are able and capable which is why it is also a perfect choice to vote for me, Abubakar Barde as your National Youth Leader.

As we embark on the journey, trading carefully on this glory road, the focus of my leadership will rest upon an inclusionary system where we learn from the older generation as we shepherd the younger ones. The position of the National Youth Leader is arguably the largest entry point for active potential membership of the party given the millions of Nigerians that turn 18 yearly. My strategy is to catch them young by arousing their interest in partisan politics even before they are of voting age. This may seem too expedient for the 2019 election but firstly, it is a campaign that we have doing well before now; and secondly it is a winning strategy that ensures the dominance of the APC beyond 2023.
The absolute involvement of youths, adolescents and other children is an offspring of the social investment programs already embarked by the government where over 7 million pupils are literally feeding off the dividends of democracy in the APC government, over 500 thousand N-Power beneficiaries and near a million taking advantage of the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), and many cashing in on the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT ).
We are young but by no means naïve enough to think that there are no challenges prodding the present administration and prime among them, is the issue of security. The government has performed beyond expectation in tackling the security problems it met but is forced to deal with fresh ones; all of which were politically ignited or fueled. For instance, as the government tries making the best of a deteriorating situation, it is often echoed by the opposition that the government is playing favouratism in the attacks for unimaginable and laughable reasons. They refuse to realize that most of the areas such as Adamawa, Benue, Borno, Taraba, Kogi, Plateau and Zamfara, are all areas where the APC raked in unprecedented large number of votes. Therefore in addition to the fact that the leadership believes in the security of every life regardless of political orientation, it is foolhardy to think that it would work against itself to distablise some of its key deciding votes. Adamawa, Benue, Kogi and Plateau were all PDP states that changed the narrative of the electoral artifice. Self-serving individuals are aware of this and would stop at nothing take those votes away even if it means sliding through the blood of the innocent. This is a message I have for the youths of this great nation, who are used as weapons in the wars of greedy men.

The youth demographic is the biggest beneficiary of the total reset of Nigeria’s economy that the APC has brought. We have seen an economy that significantly staggered into recession simply because ill-gotten wealth are steadily snuffed out of circulation. We have seen the realignment of youthful creativity as we are encouraged to reduce dependency on oil revenue. We are aware that it has been a bumpy ride, and we the progressive youths are deliberate in taking this sacrificial journey for a brighter future that we more than many, will live long in, and pass it on to an able and capable generation. I have realized that there is the pertinent need to sensitise more youths on the true situation of the country and the ineffable potentials that await us. As the national youths’ leader, it is within my purview and burden to create a more receptive and eclectic collection of youths to the painstaking journey towards irreversible progressive change.

My fellow progressives, I have discovered that I am comfortable talking as briefly and as simply as possible because I see visionaries that are all too familiar with what needs to be done. I Abubakar Barde, humbly and heartedly avail myself as one young arrow from your quiver to the bow, just shoot me to those expected targets. God bless our great nation Nigeria, God bless our great party the APC, God bless the delegates and other party faithful here present, and God bless my co-contestants; may the best win.