Former Vice President and Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubabar, has lamented that under the President Muhammad Buhari administration, there is no hope for the Nigerian youth. The latest evidence, according to him, is the absence of the youth in the ministerial list recently sent for confirmation at the Senate.

Atiku stated this in a statement issued on Wednesday July 24, 2019, by his Special Assistant on Youth & Support Groups, Ambassador Aliyu Bin Abbas, adding that Buhari has abandoned Nigerian youth to the mercy of social and economic decay.

“The future has no patience for leadership that is bereft of a road map for youth educational advancement, real-time economic empowerment and large scale middle level sectoral growth in both rural and urban areas.

“Worse still, the refusal by Gen Buhari to include and involve the youths of Nigeria in the mainstream of his government is a clear indication of wilful hatred for them. He has no plans other than use them for electoral classifications and dump them afterwards," he said.

Atiku recalled that the statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari to the effect that Nigerian youths are lazy elicited angry reactions from eminent citizens and groups across the country.

“During a business conference in London, the United Kingdom, Buhari was quoted to have said that the youths “do nothing” and want everything for ‘free’ in the oil-rich country.

“According to Gen Buhari ‘A lot of them (Nigerian youths) haven’t been to school and they are claiming, you know, that Nigeria has been an oil-producing country therefore they should sit and do nothing and get housing, health care, education, free’.”

Speaking further, he said that it is unfortunately that the youths didn’t show Buhari that they were not lazy and uneducated by voting against him in 2019.

“He doesn’t love them. It is painful that the President could describe youths in Nigeria that were daily struggling to make a living under a harsh economy as lazy people.

“These same ‘lazy youths’ were hoodwinked into the fake chants of ‘Sai Baba! Sai Baba!’ and falsely led on to believe in the lies embedded in their chosen ‘Next Level’ that today has turned into a disheveled and distressing agony in the lives of Nigerians.

“We have never had it so bad. People cannot travel freely between towns and villages because of kidnappings and ritual killings. Boko haram on the other hand has intensified its ramifications and killing young Nigerian soldiers at will. Yet the youths who make up over 60% of the population are not deemed fit to be elevated into performing administrative roles in government.

“Gen Buhari chose a retinue of recycled old politicians many of whom are standing trial in courts for embezzlement of public funds. Where lies the so-called pursuit of integrity and fight against corruption?” he queried.

He said that it is on record that the future of Nigerian youths was mortgaged by past leaders like President Buhari, who had everything at their beck and call as youths.

“Can you imagine the youths of today having half of the opportunities available in the 1950s and 1960s!

“We wish to remind Nigerian youths that at age 19, Buhari purportedly left secondary school to join the army. At age 21 (two years in the army), he was commissioned a second lieutenant and appointed Platoon Commander of the Second Infantry Battalion in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Within his 24 years in the army, the president was governor of the defunct North Eastern State, minister of petroleum, chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and head of state. Where can our youths get such opportunities today?

“We wish to remind Nigerian youths that on Gen Buhari’s watch as minister of petroleum, N2.8 billion went missing from the accounts of the NNPC in Midlands Bank in the United Kingdom.

“That N2.8 billion as at that time is like $2.8 billion (over N1 trillion now) but he chose to insult the youths whose existence his likes mortgaged.” Gen Buhari de-markets Nigeria and its people in foreign lands. In an interview with the UK Telegraph in February 2016, he said that some Nigerian youths in the United Kingdom were disposed to criminality and should not be granted asylum there,” he pointed out.

Atiku SA said that today, it is obvious that the youths have no future with Buhari.

“He has abandoned them and left them at the mercy of social and economic decay.

“But our only hope lies in the indefatigability of the Atiku Abubakar Presidency that has assured the Nigerian youths of 40% placements and integration in all sectors of governance.

“That is the true patriot who understands that the baton must surely be handed over to our young people who are the hope and future of Nigeria.

“That aspiration and God-sent leadership hangs in the hands of the judiciary to save Nigeria and ensure the fostering of unity in diversity, development based on real time economic Integrated development.

“The choice of our country lies in the Atikulated policies already canvassed and ready to be implemented with accuracy on Day 1 of the Atiku Abubakar, GCON presidency,” he concluded.

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