The National President, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, Alhaji Shettima Yerima yesterday threw his hat into the presidential race to contest the 2015 presidential election on the platform of Young Democratic Party, YDP.
Speaking to Journalists in Abuja after obtaining his nomination which he said cost N11m, Yerima said both PDP and APC have failed the youth and indeed, Nigeria at large.
He said that the table of politics the world over has turned around with younger persons joining the race.
He said further that the 16 years of PDP has brought nothing but abject poverty to the people, stressing that President Goodluck Jonathan has nothing to offer even if he is given another opportunity.
He said: “The 16 years of PDP has given Nigerians nothing than abject poverty, terrorism, lack of development and so on. It is obvious that even if you give President Goodluck Jonathan another opportunity, he will not give anything to Nigerians than total collapse of the system. Already, the system has collapsed. I think the way the system is now, if we continue to rely and keep hoping on the same two parties, I do not think we are being fair to ourselves. This why we feel that this is a revolution.
“As a people, from our experiences and background, we have a lot to offer this country. But sometimes, the way the political actors behave, one begins to think whether they have an answer to the Nigerian problem.
“If you look at the government of the day, you will notice that the man who is in charge has no control of the government. It is either he is totally blinded by somebody or his government has been hijacked.
“Now, if you look at the other side, in a normal society, all over the world, you could see that those who are yearning for power are all young, vibrant people. So, I don’t think it is a good development for us to have over aged people to continue recycling themselves”.
Yerimma denied being used by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to weaken the support base of Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, an APC aspirants since they are both from the Northwest.
“Mohammdu Buhari is as good as a father to me. I know him very well and I have worked closely with him. But the fact of the matter is that we have come to the point that where people will read meanings into whatever you do and to that extent, you cannot do what you are doing. But however, I don’t have any relationship with PDP.
“I feel that this party, YDP will strongly assist me in offering whatever I have to offer to the country. This party has nothing to do with PDP or APC. This is a movement of its own and I think it’s a pan Nigerian movement. The structure is well established. We need the support of every Nigerian. Whether I am accused of being sponsored by the PDP or APC, the fact still remains that we cannot be deterred or discouraged on what we want”, he said.
Comments