Amid ongoing debate on President Muhammadu Buhari’s suspected re-election bid, President of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, Alhaji Shettima Yerima, has cautioned against voting for anyone between the age of 70 and 80 years, lamenting that Buhari’s perceived failure is being considered as the failure of the north.
Specifically, Yerima said northern youths would consult with their southern counterparts to come up with a candidate, who is younger than Buhari.
In a chat, he said the North is disappointed at the President’s performance, adding that the leader Nigeria deserves in 2019 should be a detribalised Nigerian. He said: “Even before former President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote that letter, we knew that the hope of Nigerians had been dashed. Government policies have not shown any sign of bringing the country out of the woods. Rather than going forward, we are retrogressing with the government blaming everybody except itself.
‘’ It is obvious that the last three years is nothing to write home about. The expectations of Nigerians have not been met. It is clear that we do not see any positive thing coming up that will be better than what we had in the past. As northerners, we feel disappointed because his failure will be seen as the failure of the north.
‘’I had said it a long time ago that President Muhammadu Buhari has done his best. He is a man who actually means well for this country but with the type of people he has around him, there is no proper coordination. It is clear that at the end of the day, we might not get any good result.
‘’We will also not make the same mistake of voting people in the age bracket of 70 and 80 years. Our target is to seek the opinion of Nigerians to build capacity by consulting our southern counterparts to ensure that we come up with a candidate that is younger than Buhari. With the support of the youths, I am sure that at the end of the day, we will realise the Nigeria of our dream.”
Source: today.ng
