Shehu Sani, Senator representing Kaduna Central, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to apologize over his remarks about Nigerian Youths.
While answering a question at the Commonwealth Business Forum in London on Wednesday, President Buhari had cause to talk about Nigerian youths.
Mr. Buhari had described the youths as illiterates who are lazy and want freebies with the notion that the nation is an oil producing country.
He had said: “We have a very young population; our population is estimated conservatively to be 180 million. More than 60 per cent of the population is below the age of 30. A lot of them have not been to school and they are claiming that Nigeria has been an oil producing country, therefore they should sit and do nothing and get housing, healthcare and education free.”
His comments sparked reactions from the country’s young population who lambasted the president over his comments on them.
Defending Buhari, the Presidency blamed those it called ‘statement twisters‘ as those who manipulated the president’s comments about the youths.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement denied the president disparaged Nigerian youths, adding that, “Elementary English recognizes a wide gulf between “a lot of” and the word “all.”
Adesina asked, “How can “a lot of them,” suddenly transmogrify to mean “all of them?”
But reacting, Sani described Adesina’s statement as absurd, noting that, “The President spin doctors are trying to spray fragrances on the feces and lace the dung with olive oil.”
The lawmaker advised Mr. Buhari to withdraw and tender an apology to the country’s young population.
“The President should simply withdraw the statement on the youths and apologize; and tell them what he will do for them in addition to what he had done for them,” Sani said.
He said if the president apologizes, he should be forgiven because he is a Human. Sani challenged the youths to pick the baton and lead and stop holding the Alsatian Dogs of the political elite.
“The President is a human being, he can gaffe and should be forgiven and should not be sent to the political guillotine.
“The President echos the perception of the bourgeoisie power elites, the youths must rise against it.”
Adesina’s statement has also drawn wide condemnation from the young people of the country.
The remarks of the presidential aide did not go down well with a Human Rights Activist, Inibehe Effiong, prompting him to describe the attempt by Adesina to defend his principal as ‘imbecilic.’
Effiong, 29, a legal practitioner who resides in Lagos said the President remarks about Nigerian youths amounts to irresponsible assertion of the deficit in governance skills while describing him as one who has no integrity.
