The incoming National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Iyorchia Ayu, has charged youths not to fold their arms and wait for power-shift but rise to the challenge of leadership at various levels, noting that power is never given on a platter of gold.
He gave the charge at when a delegation of Benue youths, under the auspices of Benue Transition Mentees (BTM), paid him a courtesy visit at his Maitama residence in Abuja, recently.
Youths in the country have consistently accused old politicians of sitting tight in power and denying them the opportunity to govern.
But Ayu, a former Senate president, who advised Nigerian youths to channel their energy into the right direction, said the future belonged to youths who prepared themselves.
“We often hear that youths are the leaders of tomorrow, but that is not automatic. The future really belongs to youths who follow their passions, who prepare themselves and who go after what they want.
“There are youths who are doing drugs, who are into all sorts of vices like kidnapping, prostitution, what they call Yahoo-yahoo. Some make up the battalions in the banditry ravaging the country. The future does not belong to these.
“Organise yourselves, mobilise your large constituency and go for what you want, including public office. There is no Father Christmas in politics.
“Sometimes, young people forget that many of us started out on this route as young men too. I became a graduate at 23, got my PhD at 31, was a senior lecturer at 37 and was elected to the Senate at 39 where my colleagues made me Senate President at 40. I can say that for others too.
“And in many of these outings, we successfully competed against older, more experienced people. So, when youths say, ‘Give us a chance,’ I tell them, ‘Chance is not always a gift. Power is never given on a platter or in a parcel.’ So, mobilise and take your chance as we march to 2023,” he said.
Meanwhile, allies of a former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, under the aegis of Waziri Atiku Political Family and Associates (WAPFA) have appealed to Nigerians to return the PDP to power in 2023.
They also called on PDP leaders across the six geopolitical zones to rise above partisanship, regional interest and endorse Atiku as consensus presidential candidate for the election.
A statement yesterday by the WAPFA National Coordinator, Deacon Elijah Afolabi, said PDP would rescue Nigerians from what he described as mis-governance.
But reacting, the Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON) and a chieftain of the APC, Osita Okechukwu, in a statement yesterday said the PDP cannot be trusted.
He argued that the PDP had been in power for 16 years but failed to deliver good governance to the masses.
“How can Nigerians trust our sister political party, the PDP given their antecedents riddled with trust deficit? We know that times are hard; it is better to allow APC to fix Nigeria,” he said.