Yoruba youths have explained the reason why they decided to support the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

The Yoruba youths, under the aegis of Yoruba Youth Forum (YYF) maintained that they endorsed Atiku’s candidacy because he has clearly demonstrated his readiness to restructure Nigeria and to make life better for Nigerians.

YYF President, Comrade Oluwasegun Abiodun Bolarinwa, who revealed this while speaking with newsmen in Ibadan, promised that Yoruba youths will deliver over 5 million votes for Atiku in the February 16 presidential poll.

Comrade Bolarinwa described the PDP Presidential candidate as the most youth – friendly politician among the leading Presidential candidates.

The YYF President, however, cried out that his life has been in danger since his group endorsed Atiku’s candidacy, alleging that some yet to be identified persons are after his life.

Bolarinwa said there have been series of threats to his life since YYF declared support for the PDP Presidential candidate ahead of the February 16 Presidential election.

Specifically, the YYF President revealed that about two weeks ago, some suspected political thugs attacked him in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos, during which his car was badly vandalised.

He said, “On that fateful day, i was driving somewhere in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos state, suddenly about forty armed men suspected to be political thugs stopped my car and started to attack me. They damaged my Mercedes Benz car beyond repair. It took the grace of God for me to escape from the scene”.

Bolarinwa, however, declared that the decision to support the PDP’s Presidential candidate was not his personal decision, but decision of entire members of the apex Yoruba youth sociocultural group.

According to him, the decision to support Alhaji Atiku was reached at a summit of YYF held at Lagos, after series of consultations with prominent Yoruba leaders and elders.

He added that members of the group also carefully and critically examined the current unpalatable situation in the country and the way forward before reaching the conclusion that was a better alternative.

Bolarinwa maintained that after the endorsement of Atiku’s candidacy by the group, the National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, invited him for a meeting.

He, however, said he decided to shun the meeting because he did not want to compromise and do contrary to the joint decision of all members of YYF.

It will be recalled that on January 29, 2019, the YYF President and scores of members of the group stormed out of the International Conference Centre of the University of Ibadan, venue of a summit organised buy a faction of the Yoruba sociopolitical group, Afenifere.

Speaking on that incidence, Comrade Bolarinwa said he decided to storm out of the said summit when he realised that it was meant to declare support for the re – election of President Muhammodu Buhari.

According to him, those who invited him to the summit of Afenifere faction only wanted to use the presence of YYF to lend credibility to the purported endorsement of President Buhari,

Bolarinwa said “The decision of Afenifere would have been acceptable to all Yoruba if all the leaders including Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief Olu Falae and others prominent Yoruba people attended and supports the move .

” We said we want change and this is the time for us to change our nation for better, everybody should be conscious of the need to move Nigeria forward by voting a sincere and passionate people that will take us to a greater height”.

•Sourced from a Daily Independent report

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