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A member of the House of Representatives from Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Kajola/Iwajowa federal constituency, Oyo State, Honourable Shina Peller, has called on Nigerians, particularly the youth, to stop prioritizing the presidential election as the most important, adding that it should be regarded as the least important of all elections.
Honourable Peller stated this on Thursday during a political live programme tagged ‘PRIME TIME’ on Arise TV.
The Accord Senatorial candidate for Oyo North in the forthcoming 2023 elections said that it is disturbing that ninety eight days to the 2023 elections, many Nigerians are in search of a presidential candidate as a messiah instead of everyone working harmoniously towards achieving a functional system that works for all.
In addition, the Oke Ogun-born federal legislator stressed that who emerges the president shouldn’t be the first thing in the people’s minds while trying to build a desirable structure using bottom-to-top approach and identifying competent young candidates across different political parties. He argued that it is the only way Nigerians can do things differently and achieve a desirable result.
He said, “I believe that the presidential election is not the most important in Nigeria. What is most important now is to develop a system that works for everybody. A single man can not make up a system. The president is just a component of the system and can’t singlehandedly address critical issues affecting us as a country.”
Answering question on who will likely emerge the country’s president in 2023, Honourable Peller stated that it is too early for anyone to predict that confidently, adding that by January 1, 2023, people would know whose chances are brightest.
Speaking on the numerical strength of Nigerian youths, Honourable Peller charged the youth to ride on it by drumming support for fellow young people vying for different elective positions from the State House of Assemblies to House of Representatives, Senate and gubernatorial. “The president is just one person out of the system, he can’t veto on critical issues affecting us as a country,” he added.
Furthermore, Honourable Peller emphasized that Nigerian students alone have what it takes to determine the country’s next leaders. He said, “Let us take NANS – National Association of Nigerian Students – for example. The universities were shut down for almost one year. Students have a population of about 40 million; every student has a parent, every student has a lecturer, every student has a relationship with the non-academic staff, every student has a relationship with the host community of the school. So, they have the capacity to reach out to people.”
He therefore challenged Nigerian youths in general to come up with strategies that will enable the country usher in a pro-youth government in 2023, stressing that the strategies should include setting up criteria for Identifying credible candidates.
He stressed further:
“As we all know there are more young people in the world today and this demography is important in developing ideas to catch up with the digital world. On this note, AGE becomes the most important criterion to create space for more young people in governance.
“For State House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate and Gubernatorial candidates, the age limit should be 25 to 45, 30 to 50, 35 to 60 and 40 to 60 years respectively while we leave the presidential at 75 years at most as proposed by the WE2GEDA movement.”
