Presidency Splits National Youth Council (NYCN) - Leadership

In what looks like the replicate of the crisis in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has also been factionalised with allegations and counter-allegations of underhand dealings between the presidency, ministry of Youth Affairs and a section of the umbrella youth organisation.

The congress of the NYCN, which took place in Makurdi, Benue State, was held in contravention of a subsisting Federal High Court in Lagos order dated May 20, 2013, obtained by one Henry Nwabueze to stop the election of new officers.

The position of the NYCN president is now enmeshed in controversy as two individuals lay claims to the office: the incumbent James Olawale Ajani and Yakubu Shendam who was said to have emerged at the Benue congress between May 24 and 26, 2013.

In an interview with LEADERSHIP yesterday, Ajani claimed that there was no election at the Benue congress, and that it was a charade superintended by the minister of youths affairs, Mr Inuwa Abdulkadir.
He said the minister openly told him to forget re-election and that the order came “from the above”.
“The honourable minister continued to persuade me to jettison the election for his candidate claimed to have come from the presidency. He said that he had been mandated by the presidency to deliver Yakubu Shemdan, a personal assistant to the PDP chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Turkur,” Ajani said.

He said he was invited to a meeting at the Benue State Government House in Makurdi by the minister during the ill-fated congress where he asked him to go and drop his ambition because his (minister’s) hands were tied.
He said while the initial congress billed to hold in Akure was cancelled because of “security reports”, the Benue congress was eventually fixed by the minister. He further stated that, during their meeting with the minister, he said they all agreed in principle and the congress planning committee started planning for the congress in Benue.
“We arrived in Benue on May 24 only to be served with a court order to stop the election. But the minister insisted that the congress should go on. But I was advised by the incorporated trustees of the youth body to call off the congress in line with the court order. Meanwhile, at the venue they were sharing money to the people to ensure that the minister’s candidate emerged,” he said.

He said in compliance with the court order, they left the venue only for the minister and his people to turn around and announce Shendam as the new NYCN president.

Ajani also revealed that, prior to the recent shenanigans that produced Shendam, an ex-militant, Asari Dokubo, had been threatening him to drop his ambition and support one Henry Nwabueze, saying they couldn’t support him because he was working for ACN and Tinubu.

Meanwhile, Shendam has denied all allegations by Ajani, saying there was a free and fair election in Benue. He said Ajani was disqualified based on age discrepancies on his official documents which suggest that he is above 35 years of age.
“My brother, you know in an election the loser will always complain of malpractice. But there was an election and I won the election as the new president of the council,” Shendam told LEADERSHIP on phone last night.

Allegation baseless – Minister

But the minister of youth affairs, Inuwa Abdulkadir, also told LEADERSHIP in a telephone interview that he was never a party to the NYCN election. He denied allegations that he unilaterally installed a stooge on orders from above.

However, the NYCN electoral committee chairman, Mr Bili Tafawa Balewa, refused to answer when asked whether an election took place or not, saying “I cannot talk”.

The committee secretary, Mr Segun Ewedemi, only offered to say that the truth would be known very soon. “We will soon make our position known to the press, hopefully next week; so take it like that for now,” Ewedemi told LEADERSHIP last night.
Another contestant to the office of the vice-president, Ezekiel Don Peters, told LEADERSHIP that there was no election.

He said what took place in Makurdi was a deceit by some desperate people. For his part, another stakeholder, Marvin Yobana, said Shendam is actually the new president going by what happened in Benue last week.

http://nigerianssavingnigerians.org/forum/discussion-on-politics/presidency-splits-national-youth-council-leadership/#p3363

Like NGF like NYCN - same difference