A group known as Concerned Northern Youths have intensified calls for presidential candidates in the forthcoming 2023 election to be subjected to comprehensive medical, mental and drug test to ascertain their state of health.
Leader of the group, Hon. Suleiman Tambaya made the call today during a press briefing held in Abuja in conjunction with Coalition for National Agenda led by Mazi Dickson Iroegbu.
Tambaya told journalists that only candidates who are physically and mentally fit should be allowed to contest in the 2023 election stating that multitude of young people in the northen part of Nigeria are engaged in drug abuse. Another 20 million youths are out of school in northern Nigeria according to him.
Also speaking during the parley, Mazi Dickson Iroegbu wondered why the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency reneged on its earlier stance to carry out drug tests on candidates contesting for elections in Nigeria.
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It is glaring that the current political terrain is different from the previous drama where candidates make mockery of the poor, insult the collective intelligence of Nigerian polity by demonstrating the drinking of sachet water and milk, frying Kose on the road side and lapping children with running nose. The campaign plan has now shifted to having issue-based debates, town hall meetings, manifesto comparison and stakeholder deliberations.
Needless to say that this is a step in the right direction. The need to sanitise the polity, ensure that only fit and proper persons occupy political offices, and enthrone equity and justice makes it imperative to raise the bar even higher by demanding that all Presidential and Gubernatorial candidates take drug tests, as well as undergo medical and mental assessment tests to ascertain their readiness for the noble and stressful task of good governance.
It is the fact that no candidate with cases of lingering drug dilemma or saddled with corruption charges should even be considered to be Nigerian President. Any candidate who cannot account for their source of wealth are of questionable character.
The North must take her destiny in her hands by ensuring that only leaders in the mould of Ahmadu Bello, Maitama Sule, Shehu & Umar Musa Yar’Adua, Aminu Kano, Tafawa Balewa are chosen because hunger and insecurity knows no tribe, region nor religion.
A peaceful and homely North is now ravaged by banditry, kidnapping and terrorism especially because Northern youths suffer the helplessness and hopelessness of poverty and inequality that rendered many drug addicts.
Today, there are over 20 million out of school children in the North, and most of the 133 million NBS figure of dimensional poor people in Nigeria are of Northern extraction. Again, the present challenge of over 5 million youths on drug addiction and another 10 million underemployed in the North clearly call for concern. A strong stance is required to stem this ugly tide.
We are draining the swamp and no stone will be left unturned. Nigeria must retake its place as the giant of Africa and deliver a Nigeria that works for all Nigerians. History doesn’t repeat itself, but people repeat the ugly history that defeats them.
We call on all Concerned Nigerian Youths across the nation to be patriotic and ensure that we do not mortgage our future by voting for an alleged drug lord or any candidate with questionable credentials or wealth.
