A coalition of 24 youth associations of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on the founding fathers of the PDP to “rescue the party from collapse’’.
The National Coordinator, PDP Youth Like-minds, Mr Aliyu Turkur made the appeal at a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday.
Turkur, who spoke on behalf of the coalition, said the call became necessary following the polarization of the party.
“We have observed that the party, whose founding fathers – that is the famous G-9 – laboured for, is in shambles now because of the problems in the PDP.
“We met yesterday – that is all the 24 associations that are of like-minds in the party.
“And we called on the remaining founding fathers that made up the G-9 to come to the rescue of the party and save it from collapse.
“These founding fathers include the former Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr Alex Ekwueme and the former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana.
“The former Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido and Prof. Iyorchia Ayu, the former Vice Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and a former Minister of Education, to come and rescue the party from collapse.
“They should call the warring factions – that is the Ali Modu Sheriff faction and the Ahmed Makarfi faction – to order in order to solve the crisis rocking the PDP now because they laboured for the formation of the PDP.’’
He spoke of the urgent need to save the PDP, saying it was the only party capable of saving Nigerian youths, reviving the economy and involving Nigerians in the Diaspora in the country’s activities.
Tukur, who said the coalition believed in the capacity of the party’s founding fathers still living to salvage the party, prayed for the repose of the souls of the founding fathers long gone.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some of the associations that formed the coalition are: Siyasa Akinda Network; PDP National Volunteers; PDP Youth Mobilisation; and the Arewa Social Forum.
Some others are the PDP Youth Volunteers and the PDP Youth Frontiers. (NAN)