Senate President Bukola Saraki has got the backing of a coalition of South-East and South-South youth organisations to challenge President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 elections.
Kenneth Oti, who heads the coalition, said at a presser on Friday in Owerri, Imo state, that the organisations believe that Saraki was qualified to lead Nigeria to an enviable height.
He also said that they were backing Saraki because the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, according to him, had failed Nigerians, particularly the youth.
Saraki, a former governor of Kwara state, who currently occupies the highest office in the National Assembly, on Thursday, declared his intent to vie for the highest office in Nigeria.
And in Oti’s reckoning, the senate president could not have taken a better decision.
He said: "We received the news of the long awaited declaration of the Senate President Bukola Saraki to run for the presidency in 2019 with exceeding happiness, joy and gladness.
We are scared he would be intimidated not to declare. We have been mobilising secretly to go and beg him to run, in order to rescue and save Nigeria and Nigerians from the unhappy situation we found ourselves as a people, with common destiny.
"Now he has declared we are glad and shall liaise with other youth organisations across the country, under the auspices of a group called, Nigerians United For Saraki’s Presidency,” to ensure he emerges the president in 2019. So today we endorse president of the Senate Bukola Saraki as our choicest candidate for the president of Nigeria in 2019.
"We are wary of the abysmal situation of things in this country and Nigerians have agonized so much in every sense of the word as a result of toxic, myopic and retrogressive leadership.
"Our coalition of South-East/South-South youth organizations are on the same page with our Northern Youths counterparts who have declared the following: "The economy is in a very bad shape and the lives of Nigerians have become cheaper than a bag of rice in the market.
"We are greatly divided along tribal and religious lines and this polarization has dealt us big blows both on the local and international scenes.“It is therefore very important that we elect a very credible leader to take us back to the path of progress and development.
"Saraki has proven himself a very competent and highly detribalised person who can effectively command proactive followership.
"His track records as the governor of Kwara state and as the senate president are here with us. That is why we have united to endorse him and urge him to come out for the presidency of this great country for the 2019 general elections.
"We urge the PDP and all good people of Nigeria to join in this train of change to bring in a tested and trusted leader so that he can bring in his wealth of experience and goodwill to bear in providing the much needed development that would reposition us on the path of progress.”
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Politics