| The Daily Crucible | Monday, February 21, 2022
A youth forum, Southern Youth Alliance (SOYA), on Monday met at the State Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, calling on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to break the political ice and declare his ambition ahead of the 2023 Presidential election.
SOYA which reckoned its people as loyal members of PDP, urged Atiku to heed the patriotic call to lead come 2023, saying he the skill to rework the nation's precarious economy.
The group led by its President, Com. Ridwan Ismaheel, who also walked round urging Atiku to make himself available for office of President in 2023, advised the PDP not to commit a tactical political error of giving the party's Presidential ticket to someone else instead of its 2019 Presidential candidate.
Addressing reporters, Ridwan urged Nigerians not to unnecessarily placed undue weight on the age of an aspirant for the office of the country's President, arguing that what should count is the quality of ideas that a leader will bring to the table.
He lamented that the country is on the brink of crisis in all fronts, citing insecurity where residents have to pay protection levies to bandits in parts of the country for their safety while food prices keep going up amid university lecturers' incessant strike.
He said Atiku is not bigoted, describing him as someone who can pick up the pieces and mend the divisions in the country from North to South; West to the East.
According to him, the Turaki Adamawa is a leader who can bring everyone to the roundtable table and have a discussion around these issues that beset the nation.
Ridwan said: "The man who fits into that call is someone that is widely known through the length and breadth of this country and that person is Atiku Abubakar. Atiku possesses the set skills to fix Nigeria and make Nigeria a great country again!
"He has the competencies and the skills to rework our national economy and make us competitive again in the area of education and innovations.
"Some people are beginning to draw parallels between an older person and a younger person. We believe that there is absolutely nothing wrong in whether it is an old person or a younger person. What is important is the quality of ideas that the leader is bringing to the table.
" We, as youth groups of the PDP will not sit idly by where ideas are compromised for lesser values. What we need as a country is competent leadership. There could be other wants, but we believe that what we need should trump what we want!
"It is therefore on this note that we wish to express our discomfort to the campaign of calumny against the candidature of His Excellency Atiku Abubakar in the upcoming 2023 presidential election.
"In the same breath, we are also not comfortable with the seeming silence or reluctance of Atiku in declaring his intention to contest the presidential election.
"We are respectfully making a demand that His Excellency Atiku Abubakar breaks the air about his ambition to run for the 2023 presidential election and make a declaration in the affirmative.
"We are also using this opportunity to give a guarantee of our utmost support and the willingness to give our all in campaigning door to door to mobilize fellow youth to follow a leader who has the skill and competencies to salvage the country."
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