Igbawase Ukumba in Lafia
Nigerian youth groups, numbering about 300, under the aegies of Presidential Support Council (PSC) have rejected the appointment of Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, as the National Youths Co-ordinator of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council.
The APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was reported to have approved the appointment of Governor Bello to lead the Nigerian youths in his presidential campaign.
The national leader of the youth groups, Dr Kassim Muhammad, who addressed a press conference on behalf of the groups on Monday in Lafia, rejected Yahaya’s appointment on the basis that he is a serving governor.
Muhammad also stated that Bello, having contested the presidential ticket of the APC, should be given a higher role in the APC campaign council in order to pave the way for upcoming youths to also contribute their quota to the party’s Presidential Campaign Council.
Kassim, who is a former member of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, queried the future of the Nigerian youths in the party.
He said: “God has blessed Yahaya Bello to become governor at a youthful age, and he doesn’t need to lead the youths again. By virtue of his position as a serving governor, Bello should be given a higher role, or a different position in the campaign council to pave the way for other capable youths.
“There are capable youths within the party that have the capacity and capability to handle that position in the APC Presidential Campaign Council, as that would have given Nigerian youths a better hope in the incoming APC administration under Bola Tinubu.
“We recognize the antecedents of Bola Ahmed Tinubu to grow and develop the youths. He has done it to several youths across the country who are today great men and women in the country doing well in their various endeavours.
“However, Tinubu needs to reassure the youths of such development again through the constitution of a Presidential Campaign Council which should be a demonstration that the Nigerian youths have hope in his presidency. But appointing a serving governor into a position that should be occupied by an ordinary youths is unacceptable.”
The former lawmaker, therefore, maintained that Governor Bello was too big for such a role and as such, such appointment should be reconsidered so that the party and its presidential candidate could give youths the assurance that their government will be that of inclusivity.
Muhammad insisted that the only way to give youths such assurance was to ensure that a youth was given the position of the youth co-ordinator of the party’s 2023 Presidential Campaign Council.
