Kampala, Uganda: In a dramatic turn of events, Jacob Eyeru, a prominent candidate for National Resistance Movement (NRM) Youth League Chairperson, has withdrawn from the race just a day to Thursday’s elections, casting a shadow over the ruling party’s internal electoral processes.
Eyeru, the sitting National Youth Council chairperson, announced his withdrawal in a letter dated Tuesday, September 16, addressed to the NRM Secretary General, Rt Hon Richard Todwong, citing a strategic shift to focus on a national youth mobilization drive aimed at securing ten million youth votes for President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in the 2026 elections.
“I write to formally communicate my withdrawal from the NRM Youth League Chairperson race, whose elections have been rescheduled to the 18th of September, 2025,” Eyeru wrote.
The now-former aspirant emphasized the need to unite and educate the youth nationwide, pledging to continue serving as Chairperson of Kamuda Sub-County Youth League in Soroti District, a role he assumed in the recent grassroots structure elections of the ruling party.
“The NRM has a large and vibrant community of young members who, while not participating in elective processes out of unchecked voter apathy, remain a powerful engine of ideas, energy, and action. I am persuaded that this election year calls for greater effort to mobilize and organize this group, ensuring that they are contributors to the victories and agenda of the Movement,” he said.
“It is in this spirit that I have resolved to redirect my energies toward a national youth mobilization drive aimed at securing Ten Million youth votes for President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in 2026.”
Another candidate, Joram Mpairwe Ampuriire, who was widely tipped to win the NRM flag for Western Youth Member of Parliament, also announced his withdrawal from the race on Wednesday, citing compromised integrity in the electoral process, including voter intimidation, open bribery, and procedural inconsistencies, as reasons for his decision.
Mpairwe expressed concerns that the decentralization of youth elections by the NRM Central Executive Committee had undermined the credibility of the polls. Despite his withdrawal, the Western youth politician pledged continued loyalty to President Museveni and the ruling party.
The abrupt withdrawal of the duo comes in a politically charged period as candidates across the country adjust strategies following the Central Executive Committee’s decision to decentralize the Youth League elections to the district level—a move that has generated debate over the fairness and integrity of the process.
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