A 30-year-old graduate of Geography, Bashir Suwaid, has thrown his hat into the ring, contesting for the National Youth Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Mr Suwaid, a father of two, is the founder of Arewa Young Entrepreneurs Initiative, which mentors and empowers youths on entrepreneurial skills and self-reliance.
At a rally to declare his intention to contest at the weekend in Kano, the Kano-born politician said he decided to contest in order to give visionary, purposeful and competent leadership to build the future.
“Every man is said to have his distinctive ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their trust,” Mr Suwaid said.
“How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition, is yet to be developed. I am young and unknown to many of you. I was born and have remained in the most humble walks of life. My case is thrown exclusively upon the independent voters of this county and if elected they will have conferred a favor upon me, for which I shall be unremitting in my labors to compensate.
“With love for my country and a fierce commitment to a vision of rapid progress for the more than 200 million citizens and following a wide-ranging consultations, I offer myself to serve you as the National Youth Leader under the APC umbrella. I seek the opportunity to offer this country a visionary, purposeful, competent leadership to build the future.
“What Nigeria needs now is a real movement of the youths, by the youths in order to move our country forward and break with our troubled past. I offer myself as part of that movement.
“I am taking this stand, here and now, because Nigeria today is divided by ethnic and religious conflicts, made worse by corruption. The government has failed in its very first duty of securing our lives as citizens, and we the youths have lost our place in the world. The time has come for us to fix this.
“We have to start regenerating our leadership positions with competent and experienced Youths. People who have prepared themselves with the relevant qualifications must take over the mantle of leadership because this struggle is about the future of Nigeria, not its past.
“All i know is that Together, we can choose a New path. Together, we can set a Good agenda. Together, we can deliver for ourselves a positive outcome.
“I’d like to end my speech by thanking My Most Wonderful boss, comrade Hafiz Ibrahim Kawu for believing and having his full confidence and support in me to occupy this position, My lovely and ever supportive wife who always challenges me to be the best man I can be. To my Parents, Children, Siblings and Friends , continue to be the amazing, supportive, talented people you are. Nigeria, we can do this. Let’s get to work,” he said in his speech.
