THE presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in last year’s general elections, Omoyele Sowore, has lamented that Nigerian youths are only interested in being Personal Assistants (PAs) to the President and state Governors.
Sowore, speaking on a television programme on Tuesday, Aprils 2, while reacting to swearing-in of 444-year-old Bassirou Diomaye Faye as Senegal’s President in Dakar, attended by several other African presidents and heads of state, said youths in Nigeria are only scheming to accept lower positions, rather than the top post.
He stated: “Our young people are concerned with doing what I call tag along. They are more interested in becoming special assistants to governors or senators.
“I have not seen that clear aspiration on the part of our young people to become leaders.”
Sowore, who spoke from New Jersey, United States (US) base, stressed that Nigerian youths need to become more daring in politics to replicate what happened in Senegal.
“You cannot be young, mission-driven and a visionary and go and hide your bushel under some of these old people who have no idea of how to even operate a phone.
“Youthfulness is also important in the sense that you need leaders that are alert and capable and responsive and do not have to spend half of the time in the hospital.”
Recall that former President Muhammadu Buhari signed the ‘Not Too Young Bill’ into law, empowering youths to vie for the presidency and other positions.
But Sowore insisted that youths need to “take power” and not wait for any law to make that happen, noting: “You take power. Nobody should give power to you by any constitutional amendment or law.”
