Onyekachi Eze 
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has predicted that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) would not survive after next year’s general election. Atiku, at the inauguration of PDP youth campaign in Abuja, noted that APC was an alliance between the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
The PDP candidate observed that history of political parties formed from alliances showed that they hardly survive. “I don’t think APC would survive after this election; we are going to vote them out. And by the time we vote them out, they will be dead,” he said. The former vice president promised youth representation in his government across the country, if elected president next year.
He told the youths that they have a responsibility, noting that they have the highest voter population in the country. “Each and every one of you should go back to your state, local government, wards and polling units and mobilise the youths. Give them hope that all is not lost. “APC has dashed the hope of Nigerians in the last seven years, and we do not expect that there will be any change in the next five to six months.
“Let me tell you: no matter your background, PDP will give you the opportunity to be anything you want to become in life. “We expect you to go back to your constituency and take this job seriously; it is about your future, the future of your children, family and the future of the country.” Atiku added that the youth council is another step to further enthrone and sustain democracy in the country. PDP National Youth Leader, Suleiman Kandede, said the inauguration of the youth campaign by the party was a paradigm shift in the campaign strategy: “The strategy was directed by our principal that our campaign must focus on the polling unit.”
Kandede assured: “Our job is not in Abuja but in the local government, ward and also polling units; and we must all return to the grassroots. “In our country today, we have been subjected to an unprecedented hardship and inhuman treatment. The students were kept at home for seven months; and as I speak their resumption in various universities is shaky as lecturers have threatened to return to the trenches because of insecurity of this APC government.”
