By Adadainfo
Old men in politics should quit the stage to pave ways for viable Nigerian youths to move the country to the next level.
A youth leader, Prince Joel Odoh, made the demand in an exclusive interview with Adadainfo in Enugu on Thursday.
Odoh, who is also the national president of the National Association of Patent and Proprietary Medicine Dealers (NAPPMED), said the hold-power-at-all-costs syndrome of aged politicians had made Nigerian youths ‘wasteful’ as they are unable to contribute their quotas to the nation’s development.
In his words, “At my age, I don’t have much time again because the old men did not give us opportunities into governance. In the next 10 years, I would have become an old man. This is means I did not contribute my own quota to the country. If the old did not hijack the system, I would have seen the opportunity to become either a minister, governor or a lawmaker to make this country better.
“But they do not give spaces to the youths; and they have nothing to offer. Our prayer is that the old men allow the youths to over politics in Nigeria to put the country in order. Our old men should naturally retire because they are old and have failed the country.
“We want Nigeria to be re-arranged because aged men have taken the positions youths supposed to occupy. They have damaged this country enough. They came into power when they were less than 30 years old. What are they still doing there at 70 and above? They should give the youths opportunities to also contribute their quota. We are tired.”
Our correspondent reports that APC’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, and that of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, are above 70 years old in their official ages. Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is in his late 70s.
