By ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE, Kaduna

Dissatisfied with how the current administration is running the country, a group known as the Visionary Young Nigerian Leaders Initiative (VYNLI), has declared their readiness to take over the affairs of Nigeria, saying the future belongs to the youths.

They said youths have the capacity to transform the country, as they constituted 70 percent of votes that brought President Muhammadu Buhari into power in the last elections.

They also called in Omoyele Sowore to abandon his #Revolutionnow movement and join them, saying his approach is not viable since they have no grassroots supporters.

Addressing a press conference in Kaduna, the convener of the group, Hon. James Makeri said they will “mobilize 100 million youth and women towards achieving this feat.”

According to Makeri, “the gerontocrats who are holding Nigeria hostage through destructive policies and loans, mortgaging the future for us the youth because their time on the political stage is fast fading out ought to give way for us to shape the sort of future befitting for us and to those who would come after us.”

He said the primary aim of the youths under the group to wrestle power from gerontocrates, is not to empower themselves and satisfy their vanities, which he claimed some youth are notorious for, but towards building a sustainable future for all the younger ones and for those coming behind them.

“Because those at the helm of affairs have failed us. However, we know we can not climb the ladder without the support of the gerontocrats. For this reason, We want to remind them that the future of Nigeria depends largely on their willingness to surrender key decision making bodies to the youth who would remain here long after to suffer for any misstep taken by the present crop of leaders.”

Makeri quoted Nigerian Governor who said, “If you don’t get involved to change the future now and shape it, we’ll leave behind to you a nation you don’t like. You are 80% of the population, seize the moment, get involved. It won’t be easy, but you don’t have a choice.

“In this way, we are calling on all Nigerian youth and women to prepare as we take over the leadership of Nigeria 2023 at all levels,” he said.

The convener said they are aware of their numerical strength in this country and “we are going to mobilize that strength during the elections. The era for the youth and women to sit, lament, and do nothing in key political decisions in Nigeria is over.

“We urge the youth to remain committed and resolute, as our committee on Research and Strategies keeps us abreast with relevant and required data of political events unfolding in every Local Government Area in the country.

“In addition, we honestly appreciate some of our past leaders and other international organization for their willingness to support our collective political aspirations.

“With great pleasure, I would love to use this occasion to call on my brother, a fellow visionaire, Mr. Omoyele Sowere to abandon his Movement: #RevolutionNow and join us in #YouthAriseInDemocracyNow, the purest and the surest path for us to take our rightful place in the political space of our country. At this time, we need smart young politicians, not activists in actualizing this dream.

“As someone once said, youth is not immortality, more than anything youth is the power to make choices”. Thus, we have decided to rise for the best choices to come in 2023.

“We use this occasion to call on the president, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari Rtd. and other relevant authorities to do more in the fight against insecurity, youth unemployment, and an economically viable society, that will attract foreign investors and sustain our local businesses.

“We call on all Nigerians at home and in the diaspora to support youth and women as we continue in building the indomitable Nigeria of our dream. We assure you that we will remain passionate and committed to mobilizing all resources within our reach to ensure that our collective dreams as youth become reality,” he stressed. (Text, excluding headline, courtesy The Nation)

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