Duke urges youths to collect permanent voters’ card

Former Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke, has urged Nigerians particularly the youths to collect their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) ahead of the 2019 elections.

Duke, who also hinted of his plans to take part in the presidential race said, “I have every right to aspire for any position I want.”

According to him, the only condition to kick-start the process would be what he described as the right circumstances, adding that it is high time Nigerians begin to project people with the technical know-how, to take the country to the promised land.

The former governor, who spoke as a guest speaker at the third Mike Omotosho Annual Lecture titled: “Millennials as Protagonists in Nation Building,” in Abuja, used the occasion to encourage youths to fully participate in the electoral process by getting their PVCs and sensitising others ahead of 2019 general election.

He said: “I hear young people say to me that why would they spend hours queuing and casting their votes when at the end their votes won’t count.

“And I tell you that when their parents conceived them, they never gave up on them, considering the high mortality rate; so why would they not take a chance in building this nation? he asked.

“We had young leadership at one stage or the other. Even in our first republic, besides the likes of Awolowo, Tafawa Balewa, M. T. Mbu was in his twenties when he became a minister.

“Gowon was 30 when he became the head of state. It comes back to the disaster therein because most of them didn’t have experience in governance, which led us into war. We need the combination of both.

“What I think we should be doing to a government that is youth friendly is to provide opportunities because we need to groom the next set of leadership.’’