Not- Too- Young -to- Run Movement (NTYTRM) has described as misleading attempts to portray the movement as behind or supportive of the declaration of Sen. President, Bukola Saraki for the 2019 presidential election.
The movement’s stance was communicated in a statement jointly signed by Samson Itodo, Convener, NTYTRM and Hamzat Lawal, Leader, NTYTRM.
They said that as part of efforts to promote youth candidacy and democratic party primaries, the NTYTRM commenced a series of public town hall meetings with the leadership of political parties and young aspirants to address the challenges faced by young aspirants in securing party tickets.
They said that the movement scheduled three town hall meetings with the leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC); People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and other parties as the first dialogue was held on Aug. 30 in Abuja with the leadership of PDP.
“The event had in attendance the Chairman of the party Mr Uche Secondus; Sen. Bukola Saraki, Udeh Okoye, National Youth Leader of the party. The event also was attended by young aspirants registered under the Ready-To- Run platform.
“The young aspirants advocated for a reduction in the cost of party nomination forms and requested the party to uphold internal democracy in the conduct of party primaries. In his response, Secondus assured the young aspirants of their support for youth candidacy in the forthcoming primaries.
“Whilst addressing participants at the town hall, Saraki declared his intention to run for the office of the President in the 2019 elections.
“The movement wishes to express its disappointment with Saraki for usurping a platform designed for young aspirants to dialogue with party leadership to advance his political ambition. We strongly condemn this act by the President of the Senate and dissociate ourselves from this political move.’’
They said that the movement reaffirmed its identity as a non-partisan citizen-led movement dedicated to the defense democracy, political inclusion and transformative leadership.
The movement said it was committed to sustaining its engagement with political parties to ensure youth candidacy and free and fair party primaries.
