TheCable

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has urged youth in the country to join political parties instead of sitting back to complain about the leadership of the country.

Osinbajo gave the advice at the emerging political leaders’ summit which held in Abuja on Wednesday.

Represented by Babafemi Ojudu, special adviser to the president on political affairs, Osinbajo said it was not enough for youth to always complain.

He said they needed to break the status quo by taking the chance to be elected and create the transformation needed.

“Youth have a challenge in their hands for the future of our country; so, I advise you not to sit down and fold your hands and be lamenting over bad leadership or politicians,” he said.

“Get down to business, organise and do something to become elected political youths; after all, Enahoro became a leader in this country at the age of 23 and later moved a motion for the nation’s independence at the age of 27.

“The leaders there today will vacate the place tomorrow so if you the youths don’t start preparing today by getting mentored and learning the ropes.

“There is no way you will perform very well if the mantle of leadership falls on you tomorrow; so there is need for you to go in there and participate.”

Osinbajo, however, cautioned the youth not to expect that from the day they start participating in politics, they would become the president of Nigeria.

Kingsley Moghalu, former deputy governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said youth had the power to change their destiny to a better future by participating in politics from the grassroots.

Moghalu said what the country needed was a democratic revolution at the polling units, adding that for it to happen the citizens should recognise that they had the power to change and improve governance.

“If they don’t exercise that power, if they keep selling their votes for N2,000 so that they will eat today, their children will have no jobs in the future,” he said.

“It is high time Nigerians stopped seeking immediate gratification; they always love what they can get now and that is killing us as a nation.

“If this continues, then the citizens are just as irresponsible as the leadership they condemn.”

Moghalu said that the next line of action lay with the citizens, adding that “we have talked enough, the politicians don’t listen, they keep carrying on in their old ways.

“We have had enough but if that is true, then we must act like we have had enough and take up the challenge to change the status quo.”