- APC said young Nigerians now make up nearly half of its membership, according to data from its e-registration platform
- Party chairman Nentawe Yilwatda said youth participation had risen from about 21 per cent to nearly 50 per cent
- He described the shift as a significant transformation and said the party would deepen youth engagement ahead of future elections
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has said it is seeing a significant influx of young people into its ranks, with youth now making up nearly half of the party’s membership.
The National Chairman of the APC, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, disclosed on Tuesday during an interview on Politics Today, a current affairs programme on Channels Television.
According to Yilwatda, recent data from the party’s ongoing electronic registration exercise and internal opinion polling indicate that more young Nigerians are joining the APC than older age groups.
“We discovered that we have more young people coming to the APC than the elderly,” the APC chairman said. “When we discuss people coming back to the APC, we don’t focus on governors or political elites. We are talking about ordinary Nigerians who are joining the APC every day.”
He explained that the party conducted sampling and opinion polls among its members using data generated from the e-registration platform. The findings, he said, showed a remarkable shift in the party’s demographic profile.
“We did some sampling and opinion polls of our members and discovered that young people form about 49 per cent of those interested in the APC platform, roughly about 50 per cent. This means that about half of our members are between the ages of 18 and 35 years,” Yilwatda stated.
He described the development as a major transformation for the ruling party, noting that the APC now qualifies as a youthful political party based on its current membership composition.
“But before now, we didn’t have a youthful political party. The data we had previously showed that those within that age bracket were just about 21 to 23 per cent,” he said.
Yilwatda said the shift raises important questions about what is attracting young Nigerians to the APC, adding that understanding and sustaining those factors would be crucial for the party’s future growth and relevance.
He did not, however, provide specific details on the policies or programmes driving the increased youth interest, but emphasised that the trend reflects growing engagement by ordinary Nigerians rather than elite political movements.
The APC chairman said the party would continue strengthening its digital registration process and youth engagement strategies to consolidate its gains as preparations gradually intensify ahead of future electoral contests.