Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Groups of youths from the North have endorsed the presidential candidate of People’s Trust (PT), Gbenga Olawepo Hashim, as their preferred alternative to President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2019 presidential election.
National Coordinator of Matasan Arewa Na Dimokradiya (All Arewa Young Democrats), Samaila Garba Garri, in an interview, in Kaduna, said they were perturbed by the choice of presidential candidates of the two major political parties, who, he alleged did not have anything new to offer the country.
Garba said they were thrilled by remarks made by Olawepo-Hashim on the plight and future of Nigeria and Nigerians, because “he has the idea to make Nigeria a much better country than what it is presently if given a chance.”
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“Mr. Olawepo-Hashim is a successful business man, who has always been with the poor. He has been engaged in philanthropic activities and hardly spends a day without putting smile on faces. From Hashim’s remarks on that occasion, we understood he knows so much about the Nigerian economy and how to improve it. He is knowledgeable about the Nigerian people, more than the sitting president and PDP’s flag bearer.
“We also see him as a third force to be reckoned with. He is a bridge builder since he has biological link with the North. We have no reason to forsake him. We have every reason to deny others our vote in 2019, because it would surely be a disappointment at the “next level” and the implementation of a selfish “policy document.
“We’ve planned to organise a youth summit, where we shall declare our unalloyed support for Gbenga Olawepo Hashim, mapped out strategy of convincing our elders, parents and peers in the Northern region, on the need to support his candidature and avoid being deceived by leaders who had continued to recycle themselves in power to our detriment.”