From John Adams, Minna

All Progressives Congress (APC) youths from North Central Nigeria have converged on Minna, the Niger State capital, to rally in support of the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, with an appeal to Nigerians to put religious considerations aside and vote for competence in the 2023 general elections.

The Northern Young Professional for Tinubu 2023, North Central chapter, were drawn from the six states of the region and were in Minna to create more awareness and sensitise youths for Tinubu-Shettima ahead of next year’s presidential race.

The climax of the one-day awareness campaign was the inauguration of its North Central office in Minna.

The group’s national coordinator, Abdullahi Tanko Yakasai, in his address to the youths, urged them to vote for people with track records and capacity to build Nigeria rather than voting on the basis of religion or age.

Yakasai who spoke shortly after commissioning the Group’s North Central Office in Minna said Nigeria was not the only country with people of a different faith, calling on the youths not to allow themselves to be used on the basis of religion.

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He said unless citizens respect each other’s religion and unite for the good of the country, politicians would continue to use religion as a tool to achieve their selfish agenda while citizens continue to fight themselves.

He said Tinubu was seen as a leader with wisdom considering his development foundation for Lagos, saying that Nigerians should be hopeful and support his ambition rather than talking of a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

We need elders with wisdom and Tinubu and Shettima have served as governors in their respective states and they did well. They have the wisdom. We need to look at what Ahmed Bola Tinubu has done in particular for this country and for Lagos. Age is not a barrier in politics,” he said.

Yakasai charged professionals to join politics in order to bring their knowledge and experiences to bear in bringing development to the people, saying that “if we don’t, we will continue to have people without ideas ruling us.”