Rose Audu
Erstwhile Senate President of Nigeria in the 8th Assembly, Bukola Saraki, has hinted he will engage Nigerians below 35years as ministers if he emerge as president come 2023.
The former governor of Kwara state revealed that the plan is in line with his long-time belief that the younger generations have a lot to contribute to Nigeria’s growth and development.
He stated this when some young supporters raise N40 million for his Presidential Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms.
Announcing his plans in a series of tweets on his Twitter page on Tuesday, Saraki said the youths, who are young professionals that raised the money were convened by Abubakar Danmusa.
He said, “Last night, I was truly touched by the gesture of the young professionals convened by Abubakar Danmusa, who helped to raise the N40 million for my Presidential Expression of Interest Form and my Nomination Form.
“These young people, who went out of their way to rally their friends, family, and coworkers, made contributions of N500,000 to N2 million to reach their desired goal.”
In 2011, Saraki declared his candidacy for the Peoples Democratic Party for the presidentially primaries, but later stepped down in support of the northern consensus candidate Atiku Abubakar. Saraki is currently a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and was previously a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He defected from the All Progressives Congress on 31 July 2018, some days after 14 Senators defected to the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He blamed his defection on intolerance of the influential persons of his former party. Saraki declared his presidential campaign for the PDP presidential ticket in the 2019 election, but lost the primaries to Atiku Abubakar.
