23rd August, 2010
Malam Abdulrahman Yobe, the outgoing National Youth Leader of the Democratic Peoples’ Party (DPP), has advised Nigerians not to elect any past leader as president of Nigeria in 2011.
Yobe who spoke against the backdrop of declarations by Atiku Abubakar and Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, to contest for 2011 presidency, said the duo had served their time.
Yobe gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
“As Nigerians, they have the constitutional rights to contest but it is high time for Nigerians to stand on their feet to say enough is enough to all the past leaders.
“There is no need of recycling leaders in this country. The duo were leaders at their own time,’’ he said.
The youth leader said any person that ruled the country in the past, including Atiku and Babangida, should not be given a chance to rule again.
“We have upcoming people who are young, bright and well experienced to take the leadership of this country.
“We need people with fresh ideas, not people that have ruled this country before and have nothing to show,’’ he said.
He added that Atiku made a mistake by returning to the PDP, saying it was the biggest disappointment ever seen in the politics of the country.
“Atiku leaving the Action Congress to go back to the PDP is the biggest disappointment that we have seen in this dispensation.“
He, however, said that it was not the right time for Nigerians to listen to Babangida’s regret on the annulment of June 12, 1993 presidential election.
NAN reports that Babangida on Aug. 15 expressed regrets over the annulment of the elections.
“What we need now is if they really have this country at heart, if they do not want to make bigger mistakes, they should forget about running for the presidency.
“We do not need people that will come back after 16 years to tell us that they are regretting something.
“Countries that we were ahead of are now ahead of us because of this kind of attitude,’’ he said.