A former political adviser to ex-Governor Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom, Mr Ime Udoh has challenged the Peoples Democratic Party to nominate and vote for a young person as Governor if they expect to witness well coordinated development in all sectors.
He has also told elders to allow the youth to run the state with new ideas and energy since the youths have the needed capacity to meet the increasing demands of politics, governance and development.
Udoh, a former governorship aspirant of the PDP made this known while interacting with newsmen yesterday in Uyo.
”My opinion is in sync with the majority opinion, that a young person should be given opportunity to be the President and the Governor.
“Because at certain age you can’t go out to inspect projects. At certain age you may not want to cross the river to see what is happening in the other part of the State. There should be age consideration.
“I’m not advocating for a legislation placing a restriction on the age of attending any office because that would be discriminating and segregating against someone because of age.
“The issue of age should be allowed to be determined naturally by the people. If someone is aging, he won’t be able to move freely as Governor; there are also certain social things that he will not be able to do.
“There are certain economic things he will feel are wastage on account of his age. Personally, there should be an age that someone would say, ‘I am older than this thing.” Udo said.
On whether any of the governorship aspirants would meet his criteria Udo said; “with due respect to other contenders, Rt Hon. Onofiok Akpan Luke, has the capacity and the wherewithal to govern Akwa Ibom State very, very well.”
“You need to listen to him speak about the development of Akwa Ibom State. The young man knows the needs, dreams and aspirations of Akwa Ibom people. He can tell you from the beginning of democracy in this dispensation of democracy till now how governance has been.
“He can tell you the challenges those Governors had and can tell you what needs to be done now to ameliorate whatever deficiencies we have in Akwa Ibom State. And he will tell you all of these off hand.
“He can speak for 2 -3 hours and he is talking substance without referring to any paper. I will charge you gentlemen of the press to put together a political debate so that it will help Akwa Ibom people to take the right decision on who their governor should be.
“Yes, he has the capacity. He has a good antecedents. Now when he drives pass, people call him a giver. This happens because he used the little he has to empower the people. But if you give him a higher responsibility, it is my belief that he will do more and Akwa Ibom people will be better off.” He said.
Udoh said that the next phase of development in the state should focus on human capacity development to bring the citizens at par with the existing infrastructural development..
“The duty of the next government will be to bring Akwa Ibom people closer to development and bridge the gap between infrastructure and the people. That is what I expect the next government to do.
“No, I am not talking about giving or sharing money. The notion of giving doesn’t imply that he shares money but it means meeting people at the point of their needs.
“Onofiok Luke is sympathetic to the needs of the people. It is not all about sharing money. It is also about developing policies that will address challenges people are facing.”
