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Yakubu Shendam, President, National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), in this interview told EMEKA NZE that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been carrying on as a terrorist organisation and wants the international community to see the party as such. He states that attacks on President Goodluck Jonathan in Katsina and Plateau, among other states, breached the peace pact signed by stakeholders and reassures that Nigerian youths have resolved to vote for Jonathan for a second term.
Talking about postponement of elections and the accompanying brouhaha, what is your take?
Well, I am so passionate and concerned about the 2015 elections and we are impressed by the effort made by INEC to ensure that elections were being conducted on the 14th of Feb 2015.
Well, I am so passionate and concerned about the 2015 elections and we are impressed by the effort made by INEC to ensure that elections were being conducted on the 14th of Feb 2015.
Of course, you could see that we are living in very critical times; after all, the swearing-in date is not February 14 but May 29.
So even if the elections will be conducted in April we are still on the safe side. So we believe that the postponement of the election is not to witch-hunt any candidate, I think it is in the best interest of the nation. Since the election is on course whether, Buhari or Jonathan, what we want is peace in the country and we believe that what we have today is transformation and we are calling on Nigerians to understand that this transformation is not a one-man business, it is a Nigerian business.
So if Jonathan is going for re-election, he has constitutional right to do so; he is a Nigerian just like any other person. So we are warning those who are threatening for war because APC has constituted themselves into nuisance and they carrying on like a terrorist organisation threatening that they are going to kill people.
As the president of the Nigerian youths, we also calling on the international community at this point to begin to see APC as a terrorist group because we have not seen where a political party will constitute themselves into terror saying that if the elections did not hold, people will die, they are going to maim and so on.
It is unbecoming. They have become terrorists. I am going to New York for United Nations meeting by next week on this matter and I am going to raise this issue.
This why in the first instance, we called on the security agencies to screen candidates who are running elections because people have maliciously planned various political party platforms disguising themselves to run for elections . If the SSS, Police and army have partaken in scrutinizing these candidates, we will not be having this type of problem. It is not only in the presidential elections, even in the gubernatorial elections.
Those running under the APC are threatening for war. They are mobilizing their people not for peace, they are mobilizing for crisis.
Few months back, the FG, INEC and all the stakeholders- the presidential candidates of various political parties met and signed a peace pact that they want violence-free elections. So many Nigerians were there, the President was there in person. Shortly after that, the presidents convoy was attacked in Katsina, his buses were burnt in Jos Plateau, you see. Who were those behind all these?
There was a call by some arch members of your party, PDP for the INEC Chairman to resign, is it the plot of the PDP to get Jega out of the way for another person to conduct the elections?
Point of correction, I am not the president of PDP Youths. I am President of the Nigerian Youths and I am speaking on behalf of the Nigerian Youth. I am not speaking on behalf of PDP.
I want to clear you on that matter very seriously because I am not here for PDP but I am here to speak the truth. The truth is that elections have been postponed and the postponed elections were not driven by the PDP or by the presidency. The Nigerian people, even the security agencies said look, there are a lot of unfolding issues.
The way this election is going it’s becoming threatening when people like Buhari who are supposed to be distinguished Nigerians are going round making inflammatory statements here and there or his supporters are making threatening statements and he is not cautioning them and we have a challenge in Bornu and other parts of the north east and we have to look at it. Six weeks is not a big deal. After six weeks, elections will hold.
The youth of this country have taken their position. We are not making it a joke. We said there is no vacancy in the presidency in 2015. It’s not as if we are hired or paid but we saw a leader who believes in the interest of the youth of this country.
Just today he launched another youth empowerment programme which a lot of youths are going to benefit. This is the only government that gave 5000 direct jobs to the Nigerian youths. Where else do you want us to go? To go and support somebody that we do not know? Did they not say that the devil you know is better than the angel you do not know?
I am not saying that the president is a devil. So we believe that he is going to do well if given another opportunity. If Buhari is that popular even if they postpone election 100 times, he will not be shaken. If he feels that PDP was behind the postponement and the people of Nigeria love him as he claims, he should relax himself; Nigerians will give him their votes if they like him.
But I don’t think Nigerians will choose a 72 year old person, which is the official age, we are not talking about the real age, Buhari might be up to 80.
There is no place in the world where you see a leader of that age ruling a country. Go to America, London, Australia and Canada. These are civilized countries where democracy works, you see young people mounting the saddle of leadership and ours cannot be the exception.
Do you see Jega conducting 2015 elections?
Well, I am not in a position to know whether he will conduct elections or not but what I know is that Jega’s tenure elapses by June and he is supposed to be on compulsory leave which is normal for political appointees just like civil servants to proceed on some kind of leave. If he wants to go on leave, nobody is stopping him but the issue is that elections will hold in Nigeria and a president will emerge. So those people who are blackmailing the presidency that they are searching for a new chairman of INEC, those are political rumours that we hear every day.
Well, I am not in a position to know whether he will conduct elections or not but what I know is that Jega’s tenure elapses by June and he is supposed to be on compulsory leave which is normal for political appointees just like civil servants to proceed on some kind of leave. If he wants to go on leave, nobody is stopping him but the issue is that elections will hold in Nigeria and a president will emerge. So those people who are blackmailing the presidency that they are searching for a new chairman of INEC, those are political rumours that we hear every day.
Jega remains the chairman of INEC, until his tenure elapses we have no capacity to speak. He was appointed by the presidency and the president has the right to hire and fire at any time.
Elections were postponed on the grounds of insecurity with the NSA and other security forces asking for 6 weeks to wipe out insurgency. Do you see them stamping out insurgency in 6 weeks so that elections can hold as scheduled?
The issue of eradicating insurgency cannot be over-emphasized. We have security challenges in some few states in the north and one of the reasons was to get everyone in that area to equally vote, okay. Those internally displaced persons would need to get themselves PVCs and all that. I believe after six weeks, election will be conducted.
What we are doing now is that we are going round sensitising the Nigerian youth to go out en masse especially those who have not collected the PVCs to collect them and vote for candidates we know can embrace democracy, candidates that are democratically inclined, not dictators.
This is what we are preaching. We don’t want to bother ourselves with the intricacies of the politics of INEC. We know that our vote is our power; we know that if we are armed with the PVCs, we can vote in any candidate we want. We don’t want to get ourselves entangled or involved in the politics of INEC chairman or politics of postponement. Any day Nigeria is going for election, we are going to vote in Jonathan, that is our decision.
What is the role of the Nigerian Youths Council towards ensuring peaceful elections?
I have set up a National Youth Mobilisation and Enlightenment a few months back and we have been travelling round the country to sensitize our people.
I have set up a National Youth Mobilisation and Enlightenment a few months back and we have been travelling round the country to sensitize our people.
That is why since the exercise started, you have not seen violence or crisis on protest anywhere because we have cautioned our people. We have told them that this is not the time to do anything that will jeopardize our democracy. The international community is watching us. They have told us that Nigeria will disintegrate and we should not allow ourselves to be used. No youth will act to give credence to the American prediction.
Source: Blueprint Newspapers
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