From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
Gubernatorial candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2023 general elections in Rivers State, Senator Magnus Abe, has identified lack of investment in youths as the bane of failure in the society.
Speaking in Port Harcourt at the formal declaration by a pro-youth group in the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), the PDP Mobilizers, to join ‘SMA Project 2023’, Abe said, ‘any society that does not provide, accommodate and strengthen its young people is bound to fail’.
He said: “I identified early that any society that does not provide, accommodate, promote and strengthen the position of the young, is a society that is doomed.
“I want to welcome you all to the Social Democratic Party (SDP). We face a very big challenge; we face very difficult times. However, when campaign begins, we have a lot to tell Rivers people.
“For now, my responsibility, my task is to welcome you on board; to assure you that in all our life in the public service, we have been committed to the future of Rivers State and our country, Nigeria.”
Earlier, in his speech, leader of the group, Justin Briggs, said youths in the state were ready to vote for Abe in 2023.
Briggs said: “Today, I and my people have decided to follow what is right. We have been in Rivers State for the past seven years and all we have been seeing are bricks and mortar jobs. We have graduates without jobs. We have pensioners that are suffering and parents that are living in tears.
“We took our time and went from one local government to the other and we have mobilized our youths. Our youths are ready with their PVCs. It is not going to be the old order; we will bring a man that is youth-friendly.
“We have looked around; we have searched, we made scrutiny and in all, we have gotten just one man, and that is the man we have come to give our support to, Distinguished Senator Magnus Ngei Abe.
“We are a youth group in the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, the PDP Mobilizers and now, moving forward, have decided to dump the party and declared support for the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the state.
“We want to place on record also, that we have changed our name from PDP Mobilizers, to Rivers Mandate with effect from today.
“Our resolve here is that we shall mobilize 23,000 votes for Abe and SDP in the 2023 general elections in the state.”