All Progressives Congress (APC) youth leader Dayo Israel reacted on Monday to backlash over the ‘Jagaban Army’ for presidential candidate Bola Tinubu.
The naming is being discussed with many respondents condemning the formation of what is like the Tinubu military unit campaign.
In a lengthy Twitter thread on Monday, Israel stated that the ‘Army’ in the name does not equate to military or paramilitary.
Last Friday, he posted a photo with the caption: “The wing marshal of the APC National Youth Wing; and Chief of Staff of the Jagaban Army. It coincided with the launch in Abuja.
In his explanation, the youth leader said the branding was based on the “popular view of political activists as foot soldiers.”
He said the unit was ready to work with others “preaching the Asiwaju message and winning new converts for the party through peaceful and strategic engagement.”
“Jagaban Army operations are fully democratic and focus on well-established democratic methods of persuasion in every election campaign.”
Israel said the body was on a peaceful and democratic course of “preaching the achievements and goodwill of the APC and its candidates to achieve electoral victory.”
“The branding of a vote mobilization unit as an ‘army’ is not an anomaly in democratic politics or a deviation from democratic norms.
“The ceremonial attire worn by the leadership of the ‘Army’ at their inauguration does not resemble that of the armed forces nor is it intended to be representative of them.
“Like the Obama Army, the Jagaban Army is a renaissance of participatory democracy, infused with the energy of millions of young Nigerians at home and in the diaspora,” he wrote.
