By Joe Effiong, Uyo

Youths in Akwa Ibom State have countered state elders and stakeholders who last Sunday endorsed Mr Umo Eno as the next governor of the state, by endorsing Mr Onofiok Luke, the Chairman, House of Reps Committee on Judiciary, as their preferred candidate.

The youths, who met Tuesday on the platform of Akwa Ibom Youth Stakeholders Mandate, said much as they would not kick against the decision of their elders, they believe they should have a say in who becomes the next governor of the state and who should lead the youth in the next cycle of the election.

‘So that being said, we are in consonance with what the stakeholders have done because we believe that fathers are for direction and sons are for speed. The stakeholders have given us a direction and told us it is possible to anoint and adopt a candidate. As young people, we feel it is also possible to anoint and adopt a candidate,’ they stated.

The youths, whose resolution was read by the Speaker of the South-South Youth Assembly, Mr Victor Thompson, said they decided to adopt Luke because he is someone with a proven track record of selfless services, someone with a proven track of dedication and commitment, and someone with the proven track of selflessness in Akwa Ibom State.

Onofiok Luke

‘We need someone who has grown through the ranks, someone who has shared our passion, someone who knows what it means and what it feels to be a young person in Nigeria to struggle and go through the ranks to become somebody. We need someone who will give the young people of Akwa Ibom State a level playing field to become whoever we want to be because our goal is to have Akwa Ibom State where the sons of nobody become somebody without knowing anybody.

‘We need a man that we can relate with as a young person. We need someone who is young at heart, who is young in age, who is young in experiences, someone who is young and can relate with the young people of Akwa Abasi-Ibom State because we believe that young people in Akwa Ibom State make up more than 60% of the population in the state.

‘We need someone with experience, not just experience in governance but experience in public service. We need someone with experience that reaches out to the daily experience of the young people on the streets of Akwa Ibom State experience that can resonate with what we are facing on a daily basis. We need someone we can call our own, we need someone we can identify with. We are tired of elitist forms of governance. Are we not tired?,’ they asked.

The youth stakeholders said that Onofiok Luke meets their requirement of who should be the governor of Akwa Ibom State in 2023 because ”he is the only one who has clearly demonstrated capacity, experience and ability to execute the demands of the office of the governor of Akwa Ibom State.”

They urged every young person in Akwa Ibom State to look beyond immediate gain, saying whatever decision taken would stay with them in the face for the next eight years and affect generations yet unborn.

‘This is not a gathering of senseless people, rather it is a gathering of forward-thinking upwardly Akwa Ibom youths and we are here to make history. And let us rise up and stand together as young people of Akwa Ibom State to choose a man after our heart; let us rise up and stand together to reject the imposition of a foreign candidate against the will of the people; let us rise up and stand together to uphold the will of the people against the will of a few who are after their personal interest, and let us rise up to make sure that our names and our faces are both represented in the history book of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria.’ (Daily Sun)

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