The Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) has urged Nigerian youths to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 election.
Alhaji Musa Isiwele, National President of RTEAN, gave the charge on Sunday in an interview with newsmen in Abuja.
He said the call followed Buhari’s decision fulfilment of his promise by signing the Not-Too-Young-To-Run Bill into law.
“It is a plus to President Buhari. And the youths too should also appreciate Mr President and give him their backing; that if you can do this for us, we will vote for you in 2019.
“Somebody has summoned courage and give you a gift. If Mr President did not sign the bill nothing will happen and the bill will not sign itself,” he said.
Isiwele advised the youths not to be in a rush to run for presidential race because they have less than a year to prepare.
“I will advise them not to form a party because they have less than one year. They may not get it right. But if they will take my advice, let them support the people in government now.
“So let the youths organise themselves, use the next four years to campaign, create awareness and have a credible leader so that when this government is going, the struggle will be reduced,” he said.
He said that the signing into law of the bill could be described as a Democracy Day gift to Nigerians.
“Of course, we are on 19 years of uninterrupted democracy now. So this is the first time since 1999 we are witnessing such a feat. It is like another birth of a child which happened during the Democracy Day celebration.
“It is long overdue. We are now in computer age and a lot of people in the older generation are not IT-compliant,” he said.
He said that the new law would also prevent the youths from being used as political thugs.
“Most of the crimes being committed, 50-year old and above are not often involved. It is purely the youths.
“And now they have been given the opportunity to function, they should do it well and let there be peace in Nigeria,” he said.
He maintained that since the young people constituted the largest population in the country, ‘’they should be given a chance because if they don’t learn, they cannot be perfect.”
“It is duty-bound on them to unite and ensure that they get their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC).
“This is because if they come together to vote massively for a candidate, it is most likely such candidate would win election.
“Nigerians are fond of making noise without action. Let the youths go and register to get their PVC.
“It was said that out of 180 million Nigerians, only about 14 million voted in the election that brought President Buhari into power.
“The rest of the people were at home and after the election, they will be making noise,” he said.
