Youths Are Veritable Tools for Peace, Development- Onoja

A member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Benue State, Chief Mike Onoja has said that Nigerian youths can help tremendously to foster peace, unity, development, free and fair elections by engaging in a positive attitudes and actions.

Chief Mike Onoja who stated this in Abuja, said the youths are vibrant and more effective than the elderly and should be engaged in more productive ventures, rather then been used as political thugs by politicians.  

The former Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Defence who is aspiring to represent the people of Benue South Senatorial District in the Senate in 2015, said he is in the race to give the people of his Senatorial District quality representation.

While calling on the people of the state to support his candidature, he assured he’ll use his influence to attract federal government’s presence to the senatorial district and Benue State in general.

Chief Onoja also condemned the agitation for automatic ticket for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senators to return back to the National Assembly in 2015, describing it as undemocratic and unfair. 

He said those calling for automatic ticket for serving Senators do not mean well for the people of Nigeria. He stressed that the only bases for Senators to be re-elected are their outstanding performance, adding that Senators should be bold enough to stand before their people to seek their mandate if they think they’ve lived up to the people’s expectations.

Chief Onoja further debunked the alleged reports that he has dropped his Senatorial ambition, saying, “It is not possible for me to drop my Senatorial ambition, I have been cleared by the screening committee and I have my certificate of clearance and in the next few days I am going to tour the Senatorial districts to let them understand my vision for running. And somebody of my standing and caliber cannot stat a project and not end it properly. I have to bring it to its logical conclusion, because I know the implication of dropping out”.       

“The youths can ensure transparent elections by making sure that the election is not rigged and by protecting the masses by ensuring that their votes count. The youths are more active and more vibrant in the process of voting than the elderly people. And if you do not really have the support of the youths, it will be difficult for you to carry out the elections properly. And so they can aid positively in protecting voter’s rights by not been involved in rigging and malpractices and contribute their own development to the process. Because without the youths you cannot have a very credible election, because they are more vibrant and useful in the electioneering process.

 “The issue of automatic ticket is undemocratic. What the automatic ticket issue seeks to address is whether you performed well or not, automatically you should be given the ticket. It does not take into cognizance the performance of the particular Senator. It doesn’t work that way, you have to go to the people and seek their mandate. You cannot stay in Abuja and give somebody an automatic ticket without considering the wishes of the people. It is undemocratic, it is unfair and unthinkable. Your ticket should be based on your performance and then if the zoning in your own state still favours you, then you can go and seek the people‘s mandate for a re-election. If you are not performing and you want an automatic ticket, it’s unfair, it’s undemocratic, it’s not practiced anywhere in the world”.