Former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke has said that he’s entitled to run for presidency in Nigeria, adding that he’ll aspire for it. According to Vanguard, he said this at the 3rd Mike Omotosho Annual Lecture titled, “Millenials as Protagonists in Nation Building“.
He said;
I am entitled to run for the presidency of this country. I am entitled to it. Only on right circumstances I will aspire for it. I don’t shy away from responsibility, only the right circumstance, I will aspire for presidency of this country. I have what it takes to be president of this country.
He also charged well-meaning Nigerians to obtain their PVCs and ensure they take part in the change they desire;
I hear young people say to me that why would there spend hours queuing and casting their votes when at the end their votes won’t count. And I tell that if their parents conceived them they never gave up on them considering the high mortality rate so why would there not take a chance in building this nation? We had young leadership at one stage or the other. Even in our first republic, besides the likes of Awolowo, Tafawa Balewa, M. T. Mbu was in his twenties when he became a minister. Gowon was 30 when he became the head of state.
It comes back to the disaster therein because most of them didn’t have experience in governance, which led us into war. We need the combination of both. What I think we should be doing is to a government that is youth friendly to provide opportunities because we need to groom the next set of leadership.
The ex-governor also attributed the failure of the present administration to the disconnect between the President and his cabinet;
I don’t know what a definition of failed State is and I don’t want to categorize Nigeria as a failed state yet, however, a state that was unable to provide for its people has faded up. So, if we are not there yet, we are walking with our eyes open towards it. And we need to pull the hand break now before it gets late.
The challenge we have today is the disconnect. That is the challenge of the governance today. Because if you speak with the folks in government, and I am been candid here. I think we should stop to deceive ourselves here and stop all these political correctness. There is disconnecting between the president and even the ministers.
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