The 2023 African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has dismissed the Federal Government’s proposed National Youth Conference as a scheme to reward President Bola Tinubu’s son, Seyi Tinubu, and his associates.
Sowore made this claim on Wednesday during an appearance on Lunchtime Politics, alleging that the initiative would fail to address the pressing challenges facing Nigerian youths.
“The current administration wants to compensate the youths ‘who are in the corner,’ particularly the son of the president and his friends,” Sowore said, describing the move as unproductive and politically motivated.
President Tinubu, during his nationwide broadcast on October 1, announced plans for a 30-day National Youth Conference aimed at creating a platform for youths to discuss and address the challenges they face.
“Considering this, I am pleased to announce the gathering of a National Youth Conference. This conference will be a platform to address the diverse challenges and opportunities confronting our young people, who constitute more than 60 per cent of our population,” Tinubu had stated.
However, Sowore questioned the sincerity of the initiative, arguing that it was unlikely to produce meaningful outcomes.
He said, “The agenda is to compensate some young people who are in their corner. These young people they are calling to a conference are probably Seyi Tinubu’s friends, not Nigerian youths.
“They cannot afford to have the real youths on the table. If I am invited, I will not go because I know in advance that this is a joke, nothing will come out of this.
“They want young people to feel like, ‘Oh, they belong.’ If you come to a national youth conference, they get it livestreamed, they will get them compensated and at the end of the day, nothing will come out of it.”
Sowore argued that youths do not need a national conference if they truly want to take over power.
He added that the young people who are serious about governance would team up in unity to actualise their plans.