Call for Yilwatda’s resignation as APC N’Chairman insensitive – Northern Youth leaders

The Northern Nigeria Youth Leaders Forum (NNYLF) has condemned the two-week ultimatum issued to the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda to resign or face mass protests across the country.

Distancing NNYLF from the call on Saturday in Abuja, the National Coordinator of NNYLF, Mallam Murtala Mohammed Gamji, said those calling for Yilwatda’s resignation lacked both the moral and political standing to issue such a threat.

On Friday, a support group of the ruling APC — the All Progressives Congress Youth Solidarity Network (APC-YSN) — issued a two-week ultimatum asking Prof. Nentawe to step aside or face mass action.

In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Danesi Momoh, the APC-YSN alleged that Prof. Yilwatda had “failed leadership tests in all parameters” and that the APC’s popularity was nose-diving daily under his watch — a claim they argued could affect President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.

Reacting to the development, NNYLF boss dismissed the force behind the call for Yilwatda’s resignation as a “political hatchet team”, adding that the APC-YSN is not a legitimate support group of the party.

According to Gamji, “That individual calling on our National Chairman to resign is not even a member of APC. Prince Momoh is not a member of APC. We schooled together in ABU Zaria. He is from Auchi, Edo State. He’s a member of PDP, and they have even sanctioned him in Auchi PDP circle. So we don’t know his link or his concern with our untouchable chairman.

Faulting Momoh, the NNYLF leader said that Yilwatda’s emergence as National chairman of APC has been attracting high-profile political actors into the party and not driving them away

He stressed that the Momoh-led network is only out to cause crisis in the ruling party. Gamji warned that no attempt to destabilise the current leadership would be tolerated ahead of the 2027 cycle by the Nigerian youth.

He also debunked claims that the APC National Chairman was blocking Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang from defecting to the ruling party.

According to him, “The National Chairman (Yilwatda) is a democrat and can not stop any governor from joining the APC. The governor himself admitted publicly that he is under pressure to join APC. Nobody is stopping him.

“You can see how governors of Taraba, Enugu, and Bayelsa states and individuals are coming. A lot of senators, House of Representatives members, and other ordinary people are trooping into APC because of the kind of humble leadership of Prof.(Yilwatda). So we disagree with him. Nobody is stopping the governor.”

The Forum further dismissed calls on President Tinubu to investigate the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, describing the sponsors of such agitation as enemies of national stability.