Northern youths tell Buhari, Atiku not to contest in 2019

As the 2019 general elections draw closer, the Coalition of Northern Youths, have advised President

This was the resolution of the group after a summit in Kaduna on Monday, May 21, 2018.

In a communique signed by its spokesman, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, the group urged the two leaders to leave the stage for younger people between 18 to 60 years of age.

“We have advised him (Buhari) to look for younger person who has the integrity like him to run for the presidency,” the communique read.

“Anybody above 70 years of age should give way to younger generation,”

"The advice became imperative in view of the fact that Buhari and Abubakar who are both in their 70s participated in debates that gave birth to the current national arrangement that is largely acknowledged as having failed our national aspirations,” it added.

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The northern youths expressed concerns that Nigerians were becoming worried that the older people who have dominated the political scene since independence have not move the country forward.

They called on Nigerians to insist on generational change in the leadership of the country.

“Frustrated young Nigerians, having paid their dues in the national development effort, have been manifestly left to suffer from the suffocating consequences of the prevailing exclusive and defeatist leadership selection process being imposed on the country over the years, by succeeding ruling elites,” they said.

Similarly, a presidential aspirant, Datti Baba-Ahmed, has advised Nigerians not to vote for President Buhari if he seeks re-election in 2019.

In an interview in April, Baba-Ahmed who is the Pro-chancellor of Baze Unversity, Abuja, said President Buhari's second term in office would destroy Nigeria.