We Don’t Want You In 2019, Arewa Youths Tell Buhari, Atiku

The candidacy of President Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar in the 2019 presidential election has been rejected by a coalition of Arewa youths.

The group, which made its position known in a communiqué after its two-day summit in Kaduna, urged Buhari and Atiku to shelve their presidential ambitions to enable a young and energetic Nigerian man the helm of the country’s affairs in 2019.

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In the communiqué by its spokesman, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, the northern youth coalition agreed that only persons between the ages of 18 and 60 should be supported in the 2019 general elections.

“We have advised him (Buhari) to look for a younger person who has the same integrity like his to run for the presidency,” said the group, adding that “Anybody above 70 years of age should give way to the younger generation.”

The Arewa youths blamed the participation of persons above 70 years in the country’s affairs as being responsible for “the current national arrangement that is largely acknowledged as having failed our national aspirations.”

It said, “This is in recognition of the reality that Nigerians within this age bracket are growing worried that the nation has not fared well by being on the same political and economic lanes for 58 years (1960-date), resulting in no meaningful developmental impact.

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“This shall, therefore, eventually form the cornerstone for a platform for Nigeria to deliberate, decide, design and develop a roadmap for an ultimate generational power transition.

“Frustrated young Nigerians, having paid their dues in the national developmental effort, have been left to suffer the suffocating consequences of the prevailing exclusive and defeatist leadership selection process being imposed on the country over the years, by successive ruling elite.

“It is time they formed a rallying point from which younger Nigerians can make a strong demand for a new political order, to usher in a generational power shift, as reparation for past marginalisation in the nation’s political leadership.”

It also frowned at, “the mistake about to be committed by the present crop of northern political leaders in accepting a proposal that could mortgage the region’s coIlective interest and its future.

“The seeming endorsement by some northern leaders of a brand of restructuring that clearly places the region at a disadvantage is unacceptable and must be discountenanced.

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“For the avoidance of doubt, the North fully supports the restructuring of the country and shall be prepared to represent itself in any debate on the issue.

“The North shall, however, not settle for any restructuring plan that falls short of a total, comprehensive and wholistic reordering that should, first and foremost, include the peaceful, democratic and civil determination of the people or groups of people who truly and sincerely wish to remain part of the Nigerian federation.

“Any reorganisation process which fails to involve the discussion of the limits and extents of all the federating components, with regards to available space and resources, shall not be acceptable to the North,” said the northern youth coalition.

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