By Kayode Fasua
A spokesman to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Mr. Segun Showunmi, has lent his voice to public opinions on how the various grievances experessed by Nigerian youths in the wake of last month’s EndSARS nationwide protests can best be addressed.
Showunmi, whose principal, Atiku, was Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2019 general election, said the best way the youths could ensure a new Nigeria of their dream was for them to play active roles in party politics.
He gave the submission in Abeokuta, Ogun State, at the weekend, when the leadership of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Zone ‘D’, paid him a courtesy visit, and also presented him with an award of excellence “in entrenching democratic norms and good governance in the country”.
He said that except the Nigerian youths, particularly those that are educated, begin to take active part in politics, the much desired change in the way the country is currently being governed would be at best, a mirage.
“I, therefore, urge you, the young ones, to go back to your respective wards and join a political party of your choice, as this this will allow your political consciousness rub on other members of the party and ultimately help to form a government that would promote good governance.
“A situation where 77 per cent of voters in the country is illiterate, will always lead to making uninformed and unintelligent decisions more often than not, resulting in the election of leaders who are not resourceful and who do not have what it takes to offer quality leadership to Nigerians,” he appraised.
Showunmi equally enjoined the students to embrace active politics and begin to use their education and exposure to play advocacy roles in their respective political parties, towards achieving a Nigeria of their dream, stressing, “As long as the political process is left for the illiterate, the journey to the promised land would remain tortuous”.
He decried the lack of patriotism and decadence “that have eaten deeply into the fabrics of nowaday’s students’ unionism, as these have also contributed to the deterioration of the country.
He countered that the students must bring back the good old days when students’ movement would stop at nothing to fight bad governance and every policy that is not in the best interest of the country.
The Atiku’s spokesman thanked the students for the honour done him, promising to always support their moves to create a better country for themselves and the future generations.
Speaking earlier, the leader of the students’ body, Comrade Emmanuel Showunmi, lauded Atiku’s aide for his various philanthropic acts to the young ones, as well as “for staying committed to entrenching sound democratic principles that could advance the greatness of the country since returning to civil rule in 1999”.
