SAN FRANCISCO, May 22, (THEWILL) – The Coalition of Northern Youths has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar not to contest the 2019 presidential election.
Over 30 groups including the Nastura Ashir Sharif ‘s Arewa Citizens Action for Change); ShettimaYerima’s Arewa Youth Consultative Forum; Aminu Adam’s Arewa Youth Development Foundation; Alfred Solomon’s Arewa Students Forum; Abdul-Azeez Suleiman-led Northern Emancipation Network and the Northern Youth Vanguard led by Joshua Viashman, form the coalition.
The group said such leaders were responsible for where the country found itself, adding that the country should be led by young Nigerians that could take it to the Promised Land.
In a communique issued at the end of their two-day summit which was held at the Arewa House, Kaduna, the group urged the two leaders to leave the stage for younger people between the ages of 18 to 60.
Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, spokesman of the group who signed the communique, said they had earlier advised Buhari to leave the stage for younger people.
“We have advised him (Buhari) to look for younger person who has the integrity like him to run for the presidency,” the communique read.
“Anybody above 70 years of age should give way to younger generation.
“Frustrated young Nigerians, having paid their dues in the national development effort, have been manifestly left to suffer from the suffocating consequences of the prevailing exclusive and defeatist leadership selection process being imposed on the country over the years, by succeeding ruling elites,” they said.
“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.”
The group also frowned at what it described as “the seeming endorsement by some northern leaders of a brand of restructuring that clearly places the region at a disadvantage” declaring that it is unacceptable and must be discountenanced.
The group said the north will “not settle for any restructuring plan that is not total, comprehensive and wholistic.”
THEWILL recalls that the coalition gave the Ndigbo a notice to leave the North last year but it withdrew the notice to quit months later.
