The Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, AYCF, has downplayed the chances of Bola Tinubu, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and Rotimi Amaechi emerging as the Presidential flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
National President of AYCF, Yerima Shettima, said Osinbajo, Tinubu, and Amaechi are liabilities that should not be taken seriously.
Shettima said the APC chieftains are unpopular candidates, contrary to some Nigerians’ beliefs.
Shettima said Nigerians were yearning for a new breed of politicians, and not the likes of Osinbajo, Tinubu, and Amaechi.
According to Shettima: “Tinubu, Osinbajo, and Amaechi are the most unpopular candidates as far as I’m concerned. Don’t forget that Nigerians are yearning for a new order; they want something fresh. Nobody would take those liabilities for seriousness. I don’t think those candidates are popular before Nigerians.
“They are entitled to declare their intentions, but to say they are the strongest candidates is not true.
“Going by statistics, the youths between 18 and 40 have over 78 percent of the voting population. And going by this, the youths will not queue behind any older person.
“When you talk about Amaechi, what have we seen on the ground? Is it the railway? Or the disaster between Nigeria and the Chinese? Amaechi, who can’t produce a Councillor in his place, no local government Chairman, how can he be said to be popular? He can’t even go to his State; he said he was afraid of his governor in one of his interviews. Is that what you call popularity?
“The same Amaechi recently said he has no money to contest, so where did he suddenly get the money to contest? The same goes for Osinbajo.”