Mr Ahmed Buhari, the initiator of Ahmed Buhari Youth Movement, says his interest in vying for the office of the president of Nigeria is informed by the need to have a generational change in the leadership of the country.
Buhari, who is a geologist by training, stated this while speaking with newsmen on Sunday in Ilorin on the sidelines of his meeting with members of the Ahmed B. Youth Movement in Kwara.
According to him, the youths have lost hope in the current system of governance which has created a wide gulf between the young and old generation, stressing that it was high time the young people participated in politics and governance of the country to avoid vacuum in government.
“Most importantly, our involvement is going to be an enlightenment to young people that it is true that we can do something.
“To let them know that the reason we are doing this is because we understand that if we do not allow responsibility to be transferred from one generation to next generation at the right time, a vacuum will be created.
“If this vacuum is created, a lot can go into that vacuum. It could be herdsmen; it could be Boko Haram; it could be kidnapping; it could be baby factory; it could be armed robbery, it could be a lot of things.
“It is because these young people do not feel any need for them to be looking up for something that hope is lost and so we are trying to revamp young people to understand that they have to participate in politics.
“While they participate in politics, they shouldn’t make money politics a front burner for them. They should be more concerned about how they will even support aspirants so that when they get to the office, those aspirants will be answerable to them.
“This will kill totally the whole idea of cabalism and see how we can have aspirants who will emerge and become answerable to those people who elected them because if you do support an aspirant, he is going to come back to you and support you, not by giving you the money you gave him, but by giving you the best of democracy.
“What we mean is that we want to have a country that would be formed on a united ground.
“United ground in the sense that no matter where you come from, regardless of your ethnicity; regardless of your religion; regardless of your social status; regardless of your political party; ideological affiliations; regardless of gender; regardless of your age; you will want to be part of a new Nigeria.
“The new Nigeria that we are looking for is new Nigeria that every one of us would claim without mentioning where we are from.
“We want a new Nigeria where there won’t be a discussion on state of origin, quota system and all of those things that always tend to divide us will be eradicated,” he said. (NAN)
