The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, has described as timely a remark by former Head of State, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, IBB, over the age bracket that should assume the office of the president come 2023.
IBB had earlier listed important qualities which President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor must-have. The former leader said Nigeria’s next president must speak to the citizens, understand economics, and have friends in every region, adding that he has seen Nigerians who have the qualities he described, and they are in their sixties.
IBB stated this in an interview aired on Arise TV on Friday and monitored by Naija News.
Reacting to the remark which has received commendation by some citizens, AYCF National President, Yerima Shettima, said Babangida has demonstrated his commitment to democracy in Nigeria, urging other elder statesmen to toll IBB’s step regarding Nigeria’s next president.
He said: “Former President, IBB has proved that he is committed to genuine democracy and demonstrated patriotism, with this proposition of injecting fresh blood into the democratic space of today’s Nigeria. We call in all elder statesmen to cue behind IBB for the good of this nation”.
Shettima believes Babangida has spoken the minds of millions of Nigerians who have been quietly disturbed by, “the political culture of recycling old, tired citizens as presidents of the nation”.
He asserts that recycling old citizens as president was partly responsible for the current stagnation afflicting the country.
Shettima added: “We’re all aware that in terms of leadership/governance globally, the trend is having young, healthy and intellectually vibrant young people at the helm of affairs.
“We’re calling in all political parties in the country to shun the culture of recycling old and incompetent candidates for the nation’s presidency because the youth will no longer support that dangerous trend anymore”, he said.
He explained that the era of having old people holding the reigns in Nigeria should belong to the past and, “anyone who thinks this stagnation should continue, should perish that negative thought”.
This article was originally published on Nigeria News