By Luminous Jannamike
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Thursday unveiled a nationwide youth and women mobilisation drive, projecting that the new structures could help the opposition party build a voter support base of at least 10 million votes ahead of future elections.
The initiative is part of the party’s efforts to rebuild its grassroots base, attract more young people into politics and strengthen its electoral reach across the country.
At the inauguration of the PDP National Youth Leadership Consultative Forum for the Survival of Democracy in Nigeria and the PDP Female Youth Wing in Abuja, the PDP National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, urged young women to embrace active political participation and ignore claims of division within the party.
“Do not see this gathering as a jamboree. Those days of attending events just to collect T-shirts and socialize are gone. Today, we are focused on purpose and results,” he said.
The PDP national secretary said the party was committed to mentoring young women and creating opportunities for them to emerge as councillors, local government chairpersons, legislators and other public office holders.
“The future is in your hands. Whatever a man can do, a woman can do even better,” Anyanwu told the gathering.
He also outlined plans to establish a structured female youth mobilisation network across the country, with a target of reaching at least 5,000 female youths in every state within the next three months.
“We are planning a structured mobilisation strategy. For example, if we engage female youths across all 27 local government areas in a state and mobilise at least 50 women per local government, we will build a strong political base,” he said.
Anyanwu encouraged young women to use digital platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp to deepen political awareness and mobilisation.
Amid recurring speculation about internal divisions within the opposition party, he insisted that the PDP remained united.
“Ignore claims of division. The PDP remains united under its recognised leadership, and our women and youth structures are active and functional under the appropriate leadership,” he said.
Earlier, in a statement signed by PDP National Youth Leader, Amb. Ibrahim Bala-Aboki, the party said the new youth and women structures formed part of a broader mobilisation strategy expected to generate a voter support base of not less than 10 million votes nationwide.
“With this robust structure and clearly defined responsibilities, we project that the PDP can build a voter support base of not less than ten million votes, all things being equal,” he said.
