Five political parties were scheduled to endorse Atiku on Thursday evening, but one has already pulled out.
As a coalition of national youth leaders of political parties in Nigeria prepare to endorse Atiku, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) later on Thursday, there is controversy over the list of parties that are expected to participate in the said endorsement, according to private correspondences seen by SaharaReporters.
Five political parties were scheduled to endorse Atiku on Thursday evening, but one has already pulled out.
Olakunle Olawole, National Youth Leader of Kowa Party, had sent out an email invitation stating that the Council of National Youth Leaders of Political Parties (CONYLOP) would hold a live press conference scheduled for Thursday in Abuja.
According to the mail by Olawole, the conference is “scheduled to hold in favour of endorsing the presidency of the PDP (Alhaji Abubakar Atiku)".
The invitation is, however, causing ripples within the political parties fielding youth candidates, as it is not exactly clear which parties are expected to endorse Atiku’s candidature.
One of the recipients had asked Olawole: "Thank you for the invitation. Just to clarify, the National Youth Leaders of Political Parties including APC, ANN, AAC, ANRP, YPP, KOWA are ALL endorsing the PDP candidate? We look forward to the clarification."
But speaking for the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Lanre Oyegbola, Director-General of the ANN 2019 Presidential Campaign, wrote: “Dear Yemi and sender of this message, thank you for putting me in copy of this mail. For the avoidance of doubt, ANN - Alliance for New Nigeria is not a party to this endorsement of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party. We have a Presidential Candidate and the youth of Nigeria are solidly behind our candidate the Nation Builder and great Inspiration for the Nigerian Youth, Mr Fela Durotoye. Thank you.”
The press conference to announce the endorsement is scheduled for 4pm today.