Atiku to youths: Be courageous about joining politics… I fought military rule in my 30s

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has advised youths to be courageous about taking active part in politics.

Abubakar spoke on Tuesday at a meeting with leaders of support groups aligning with his presidential bid.

Addressing the leaders of the groups at the event held in Abuja, the former vice-president said he was delighted that more young people were showing interest in politics, adding that his dream is to mentor the young generation and hand over his political structure to them.

“It is encouraging that these days, I see many young people come to me declaring intentions to run for various political positions — some state assemblies, some national assembly and even some aspiring to be governors,” NAN quoted him as saying.

“The beautiful thing is that this shows that our democracy is being strengthened. I also started early like many of you.

“I started in my late 30s. During our time, our direction was to fight the military and return the country to civil rule.

“In joining politics, you have to be focused, principled and courageous. For example, I contested for the governorship position four times before I was finally elected. That is politics for you. You have to be determined and be courageous.”

He expressed appreciation to the leaders of the support groups for the roles they played during the 2019 election.

“We are more organised now. It is a reflection of the fact that we are now more experienced and with experience comes more knowledge,” he said.

“What that means is that if there was any mistake that we made last time, we are in a better position to avoid such mistakes now.”

On his part, Raymond Dokpesi, national coordinator of the Atiku Abubakar technical support team, urged the groups to engage with the  necessary stakeholders to ensure that the former vice-president wins the 2023 presidential election.