A 39-year old Nigerian woman Eunice Atuejide has said President Muhammadu Buhari must not be allowed to continue in office beyond May 2019.
Atuejide, a lawyer, with practices in the United Kingdom and Nigeria, is the presidential candidate of National Interest Party, which she founded.
“We need men and women from every corner of the country bound by a common objective to create a Nigeria which works for every Nigerian,” she said on Saturday.
Atuejide will be one of the first beneficiaries of a new law that cuts the age limits for those contesting elective offices. The law reduces the minimum age for presidential candidates from 40 to 35, and state governors and senators from 35 to 30.
75-year Buhari old said he will stand for reelection next and is expected to be favoured by his All Progressives Congress as its candidate.
But Atuejide said Nigeria was in need of a fresh set of leaders. She insisted that the “current crop of politician” were responsible for the “incessant deaths and misery and misery in the country .”
Her party said it is “committed to fight, by all means necessary, the mismanagement of our national wealth, to recover as much of our stolen wealth as we can find, to eradicate the abysmal levels of corruption in our national life; the unequal treatment of our people at all levels.”
Atuejide is not the only youthful Nigerian seeking to unseat Buhari. Thursday, New York-based Chike Ukaegbu announced plans to contest for the presidency next year.
“Chike Ukaegbu announced his candidacy for President of Nigeria — a country with over 60 percent of the population between the ages of 18 and 35,” his publicist said in a statement.
“At the age of 35, Chike aspires to become the youngest civilian president of the youthful African nation.” (The Guardian)