2023 Presidency For Men Like Atiku, Tinubu Not Boys – PDP Chieftain

BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – A Public Analyst and Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Segun Showunmi, says Nigeria’s current debilitating security and economic challenges are no child’s play and demand experience to effectively tackle them.

He has therefore chided those hiding under the ‘Not Too Young To Run Act’ in their desperation to stop the elderly participation in politics, insisting that the likes of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu are not only eminently qualified and capable but not too old to rule Nigeria.

Listing the nation’s challenges to include restructuring of the Federation; high stake international renegotiation of debt obligations; packaging together a team that accommodates Nigeria’s diversity and heightening insecurity, Showunmi said; “When nations are looking for leadership in a democracy, they look for who can get the job done.

“In our case, the demand is more, for we will be on a fool’s gambit to think the challenges the country faces is child’s play.”

According to the man, who is interested in the Ogun State governorship race, the ‘Not Too Young To Run Law’ does not mean the elderly must die, noting that the United States of America President, Joe Biden, is in his 70s and not inhibited by age.

Further reacting to calls for the likes of All Progressives Congress (APC)’s National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to quit the political stage due to age and health concerns, Showunmi said; “When President Buhari signed the Not Too Young To Run bill on 31st of May 2018, it was a welcome development as it lowered the age to give more access to those wanting to contest. I do not see any clause in it that says age is now a disease or an impediment to anyone aspiring to be anything in our country, Nigeria.”

Offering his perspective on the 2023 presidential race in a statement released to newsmen, Showunmi further said that having listened and watched with nauseating amusement the fixation on age as the only parameter, especially to the high office of the presidency, it seems as if those canvassing such position are “under some silly assumption that the presidency of Nigeria is a stone quarry where the occupant is expected to use Stone Age Tools to chip mountains into chips for building.”

“Hello friends, get busy and come to the table with ideas and snap out of these bully tactics directed at the elderly. No one, and I repeat, no one, is stopping anybody from aspiring for any office of their liking. We do not have an age ceiling on eligibility to contest.

“I have seen wet trees die while the dry ones live much longer, the mortality experience of humans does not justify this lazy frenzy. Do the young not die just as much as the elders? Do the infirmities of health not affect all humans? I don’t get it.

“Thankfully each and everyone that is qualified is free to aspire. The reality of what the contest demands will manage the garrulousness of infantile lackeys of the kindergarten wannabes.

“So it is Waziri Atiku Abubakar or Asiwaju Bola Tinubu that these lots are hoping to bully of their ambitions with the screaming and shouting about age.

“Shall we not examine their scorecards on the assignments and opportunities granted them”, the PDP chieftain said.

For those seeking political office on the basis of their youthful status, Showunmi said; “We know those younger leaders that can bring something to the table, and we know the unstable over-ambitious office seekers who are simply deceiving themselves. Time will tell”.

He added that; “Their story is like that of the leach that wants to kill the dog it feeds on, forgetting that once the dog dies, the leach will cease to exist.”

Showunmi, a known ardent supporter of Wazirin Adamawa, further stated that; “If Atiku Abubakar is often in the news while the consultation is still ongoing, I tell you again he will be one of the issues in the build-up to 2023.

“When nations are looking for leadership in a democracy, they look for who can get the job done. In our case, the demand is more, for we will be on a fool’s gambit to think the challenges the country faces is child’s play.”

For now, the heat is mostly on former Lagos Governor, Asiwaju Tinubu, having openly declared his interest in the 2023 presidency.

This is as close associates maintained that Atiku Abubakar, who was the PDP presidential candidate in 2019, is still engaging on wide consultations within and outside the country’s main opposition on his ambition going forward.