Ahead of the 2023 general elections, All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant and Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello has encouraged young Nigerians to vote for young candidates.
Speaking at an induction programme for members of Rescue Nigeria Mission (RENMISS) in Kano on Saturday, the governor cautioned youths against siding with the aspirations of those who would gift them with favours to get their votes only to abandon them when they are elected.
Bello, represented by his Chief of Staff, Abdulkarim Asuku, held that demographic distribution in Nigeria showed that Nigerian youth have an overwhelming population over the older generation, who are below 10 per cent of the population.
According to him, this democratic advantage indicates that Nigerian youth could democratically take over from the ageing generation and elect one of their own to the Presidency in 2023, even as he offered himself as the best man to serve their interest in that regard.
‘Why would we relegate ourselves to the backbench if truly we have a total of 60 or more per cent of the electoral votes? Why do we allow them, the older ones, to decide our political fate?’ he asked rhetorically.
Governor Bello lamented that over the years, Nigeria has unfortunately found itself led by leaders who did not care about their wellbeing or the interest of future generations. He however expressed optimism that a younger leader would resolve all of these challenges and give Nigeria the right leadership.
Bello charged the youth to be united in order to defeat the divides of ethnicity, religion and region that have been employed by the older generation to undermine the common political front of the younger ones
He also charged them to be of good behaviour if they expected Nigerians to take them seriously while regretting that those who are responsible for the nation’s security challenges such as banditry, Boko haram and kidnapping are mostly young people
Bello also charged both Muslim and Christian clergy to be courageous to speak the truth to the members of the political class, rather than allow the political class to employ them to endorse their political ambitions.
‘The onus lies on our clergymen to preach the right salvation, to preach the right preaching to our politicians so that we can bring about a solution to the issues of leadership that we face in Nigeria,’ he stated.
