The National Youth Summit Group has called on President Bola Tinubu to consider appointing credible technocrats like the former Governor of Cross River State, Professor Ben Ayade and the former governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Pastor Tonye Cole for ministerial appointments.
The group stated in a letter addressed to the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, in Abuja, on Monday, 26th June 2023.
The group through its National Coordinator, Hon. Mgbang Rex David, said it strongly believes the duo have the capacity and track record to create impact as well as build Nigerian youths.
According to the group, “Nigeria has evolved beyond sentiments and we must take advantage of people who have shown clear potential in their areas of expertise to help our country at this critical time.”
It said “Tonye Cole was a co-founder of Sahara Group, a company which he built from nothing and today has a presence in over 40 countries employing thousands of young people.
“Originally an oil company, today it has investments in power, IT, Real Estate and others, which is a clear indication of Cole’s wealth of experience in building wealth and managing people.”
“Take Rivers State for instance, where the party leader, Chibuike Amaechi refused to support Tinubu, however, Tonye Cole managed the big guns and encouraged his huge supporters to vote massively for APC. A move that made Amaechi questioned his loyalty and Wike took advantage of Tonye Cole’s predicament to openly support Tinubu because of Amaechi to take the glory of the real votes harnessed for APC in Rivers State,” the group said.
According to the National Youth Summit Group, “Cole has the biggest grassroots support base in the state called “TeamCOLE” and had already given the party 25% of the total vote cast on February 18th before former Gov. Wike came into the scene. The former business mogul and pastor was arguably the most qualified candidate of any political party in the last election in Nigeria.”
“As someone that has built his wealth, grown companies, developed young people and sits on the committees of several international bodies including the world economic forum, Tonye Cole a former candidate of the party who single-handedly sponsored APC in the Rivers State during the election deserves to be made a Cabinet Minister.
“In fact, only Tonye Cole can re-engineer APC in Rivers State again to greatness. He is well-loved and believed to be neutral. Most Rivers people see him as a victim of power play between Amaechi and Wike. And does not deserve the treatment currently being melted on him and his huge supporters by his party, after all, he did for APC in the last election.”
Also, the National Youth Summit Group stated in their letter that the former Governor of Cross River State, Senator Ben Ayade is someone they’ve studied carefully.
“As governor, he received one of the lowest allocations from the Federal Government, added to a huge debt burden he inherited but was still able to employ the largest number of young people in his government.
“He encouraged youth participation in governance more than any leader in recent history and today, Nigeria has the youngest Senator from Cross River State as well as the current APC National Woman Leader who is just 36 years old.
Ayade’s tenure as Governor clearly shows that government is all about creativity and intellectualism as he will put it. He built industries across the state and focused his administration on creating jobs for young people.
“Moving from PDP to APC a year before the election was a big risk but because of his performance, Ayade got the support of the people to produce his successor. Being a strong supporter of Tinubu in the South-South wasn’t an easy task but it was one task that only the likes of Ayade can pull,” the group said.
The statement further read: “As a group, we have scanned through the business community as well as former public office holders and we can clearly state that if President Bola Tinubu must succeed, he must surround himself with technocrats and people with proven track records, and not Mediocres who believe they should be appointed into cabinet for being on the campaign trail or using their support for the party to blackmail the President.
“Nigeria deserves better and with renewed hope, Nigerian youths are hungry for a country of our dreams. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
and then