 Tonight, we take a closer look at the YPP and its plans for 2023 elections. And Nigerian government's Shields Herdsmen blames ISOAP for a war attack, reports says. Well, this is Plus Politics, I am Mary Anacol. The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, earlier published the particulars of candidates nominated by the political parties for the 2023 general elections. This included the Ado Ibrahim Abdul Malik presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party, YPP and his running mate. The National Chairman of the Young Progressive Party, Bishop of Macri, expressed satisfaction with the massive support the party enjoys saying YPP candidates will deliver the dividends of democracy. He also reiterated the assurance of the party's leadership to change the narrative of governance through its candidates and urged the youth and all-progressive-minded Nigerians to take their destiny into their hands by registering for the permanent voters' cards, which remained the only weapon to enthrone good governance at all levels in the forthcoming 2023 general elections. And joining us to discuss this tonight is the National Publicity Secretary of the Young Progressives Party, Comrade Igbeola Wiley Martins. Thank you so much for joining us, Mr. Martins. Thanks for having me on your program this evening. All right. Thank you very much. All right. So let's talk about the party. Hopefully we will get to speak to your presidential candidate. But today we want to talk about the YPP. The YPP obviously is a party that was built to accommodate young people and their aspirations. But over the years, there seems to have been a lot of metamorphosis happening within the party. So as we see today, we have Anadouh Ibrahim as your presidential candidate. What has changed within the party from when it started until now? Yes. Thank you very much. As it is with every movement, Compolitical Party, in this case the Young Progressives Party, we've evolved over time from when the party was registered five years ago, precisely 2017, June 7th. And ever since then, we've been working strong and being able to penetrate all the states in Nigeria. Cascading down to the local government, which has been issued, was not the case. Over the five years, the YPP has been strengthening along that line. And I can tell you that one of the fundamental reasons why the YPP was better was on account of the fact that we felt there was a need for a paradigm shift. There was no, it will only be full energy for us to continue to do things the same way and express the difference. What exactly have you changed that is going to get to? I'm so sorry. I thought you stopped talking. I was wondering what exactly have you changed within the party to get you the kind of results that you're looking for in 2023? Because I'm guessing that what you want to do is win. Yes, definitely. Yes. A lot, a lot, a lot have changed over time. We are coming, our center and our rival is on the strength of transformational leadership. We've seen over the time that the problem with Nigeria is not even with us, but majorly with the kind of leaders that we have. So we're strengthening our leadership recruitment process, which helps us to true qualitative leadership to Nigerians. In 2019, we did the same thing. We brought in a man with that caliber of Professor Kiske Mogalu who ran on a platform in 2019 and in 2023, we've moved a step higher by bringing somebody of Christmasly to a brand with both national and international experience in diverse areas to be able to transform Nigeria as it is. His work of experience in the area of power is second to none. There's no presidential candidate as we speak in other political parties that have got his own hands-on experience in the area of power, in the area of security. Those are his major strengths and as we are today, if you can solve the problem of insecurity in Nigeria, if you can solve the problem of power in Nigeria, then you know that over 70 percent of our problems are solved. So in essence, we have built an organic fellowship. We are also bringing to the table our expertise in terms of our ability to solve the myriad of challenges that is confronting the nation as it is. We are also ensuring that we are on the same page with all Nigerians who have been impacted over the years. In the last 23 years, there's been sadness, sorrow, and woes, high unemployment rates, the human development in this, which is a composite statistic for education per capital income and life expectancy, is getting worse by the day. All indicators, in terms of economic indicators, are the lowest that we've never experienced before, and the PDP and APC have been there over time with empty promises only for them to get there and begin to ask the question of what they actually promise. And we felt things cannot continue that way, and that is why we came up through a very effective leadership recruitment process to throw up a man like Prince Malik Ado-Ibrahim to be able to confirm this challenge on this man who will have to wait for six months before he appoints his ministers, or he would have to start traveling from one place to the other to be able to stick solutions. We already have them in his blueprint, and he's going to start working from day one to ensure that things are effectively put in place in Nigeria for the benefit of his citizens. I'm curious. Looking at something that your party holds as a mantra, together we are stronger. And your mandate is that you believe that it is time for generational shift in leadership, and this revolution must be driven by highly cerebral, mentally progressive, and young innovative leaders without greed. If Nigeria must truly live up to her full potentials and take her up to her rightful place of leadership in Africa, this is what you have as your party's mantra. But 16 candidates from 16 different political parties have been fielded. And we've seen the APC and the PDP, which have continuously been the two biggest parties in the country who have taken turns to lead this country. Now, looking at what's happening now in the political terrain, we have also seen other people who have probably left the APC and the PDP to other political parties, Dito for the NNPP, the Labour Party. What chances does the YPP stand against the calibre of people who are going to be running for this same office, that highest and most revered seat? When it comes down to it, does the YPP stand a chance? Yes, I can tell you the answer is on a fatiki, yes. We have eight candidates who want to be able to, you know, governize citizens. It's enough time for them to be able to evaluate all the candidates and then also make informed decisions. Thank God that is unlike the time that the Electoral Arts never gave the opportunity for a period over time for Nigerians to ourselves. This time around the opportunity is there. And I'll tell you that things are changing, we need to turn out of Nigerians, youths most especially, who feel there's a need for them to take their destiny to the end, participate in the political process through mass registration and also translating that into voting from candidates of their choice. And there's no better candidate, I continue to say, than a man with international votes, not international experiences in the private and public sector, is anyone who has seen it all at that level and works with the undersecretary of United Nations. And his global experience will bring global competitiveness in terms of our economy, businesses and in all sphere of our development. And I'll tell you that in line with what we've done to recognize our vision, what we're come for, our mantra, our mandate, is that YPP is our vision is to build an egalitarian society, that is anchored on citizens as a crime resource driven by mentally progressive and young innovative leaders without greed. And we put that without greed because over time, the problem with the kind of leaders we have in Nigeria is greed. You hear the Umongos money they steal every now and then. And this has been the case right from the 60s. What dominated the 1960s democracy was on account of heavy corruption. Over the years, nothing has changed. This has been corruption. Look at the accountant general of the federation who was alleged to have stolen 80 billion naira. So many money missing. This money alone, if put together and even the look owes in terms of corruption and his plug is enough to solve how many challenges in this nation. So I can tell you objectively that the kind of candidate we are putting forward is a man who is highly cerebral, who is innovative, who is going to bring in something entirely new, something put on something different to the same. Something that has never been seen before. He's not telling you are we do this. He's somebody who is mutting, wet with action. Somebody who is already doing those things that is coming to replicate in the nation. So I can tell you that man for man in terms of candidature, we are the best candidates running for this election. Great. Aside from the candidate that you have to offer, what is your base? I ask this again. The YPP at the beginning was even the name says it's for young progressives. But then I ask because there is a movement and you know the obedient movement and they're mostly young people online offline. These are young people. So what is your base right now? What is your strategy to get some of these, if not so huge, or all of these young people to also see this strategy that you bring to the race come 2023? How do you intend to galvanize all these young people? That has been ongoing. We were the only political party in the 2019 election to have a post-mortem analysis of the 2019 election through a gathering known as Steve Oda's meeting to review. And since then he's been ongoing. We've been doing reaching out, galvanizing the youth, giving an organic movement. Let me tell you something. You see the example you gave with the youth doing a lot with the obedient movement. It is a work on development. What I can tell you and frantically that it takes it takes a lot of involvement to be able to affect the change. The young progressives party is a platform for everyone, including the young old. So the name itself is not just restricted to the young. Even the old is a party for the women. And I can tell you that our strategy is ongoing. It's not something that is ongoing. There's no ballot on social media. What you see is you see we have coordinated, committed, pragmatic individuals that are working tirelessly for the party at the level of the local government and what. And then I can tell you that with time, things will evolve and they will understand that in terms of winning an election, it's both been on ground and also, you know, total commitment that transcends the noise and the whole value in social media. But I can tell you that we have a lot of youth that are working for us. We have a lot of youth that are involved. We have a lot of youth that are participating in this particular process. And with a matter of time, you see that what we are doing, we drop whatever you see that it's already going on right now. Great. Talking about being on ground, and this is my last question before we go for the break. You have spoken about, you know, being on ground and, you know, quieting the noise on social media. Let's talk statistics. How many seats so far since the antecedents of this party and, of course, now in 2022, how many seats locally at the local level, local government, at state levels, and even at the federal, on the floor of the National Assembly, how many seats has the YPP won around the country? Yes. If that is a heuristic, I think you will not name five political parties, big five political parties currently in Nigeria, because as you speak, YPP outside the ABC and PDP is the only political party that is represented, and you never have seen it. There are only three political parties that have got senators in different republics of Nigeria, and YPP is one of them. And as it stands, we were also able to win a councilorship seat, councilorship seat, and leaders, and, you know, through the normal manoeuvring of the ABC that a candidate was trending, and somehow we ended up having a situation where it was forced against its wish to come to the YPP party. But that, as it may, YPP is only five years old as of. Mr. Martins, are you there? I think that we lost that connection, but Igbe Ola Wale Martins is the publicity secretary of the Young Progressives Party, the YPP, and it was a great conversation. Well, we'll take a quick break, and when we come back, we will discuss the Awor Massacre and how this has affected the people's trust in the government. Stay with us.