2019 Election: Osinbajo praises young aspirants for their courage

Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo has commended the courage of young aspirants for their desire to contribute to nation building in their various constituencies through active politics.

He said it was important to encourage young people to participate at all levels of the party as they are important to the development of the country.

Osinbajo said this during a meeting with young aspirants under the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

He said, “I also want to say that your courage is exceptional. If you aspire to be anything in a country of about 200 million people, you are a courageous person, no question about that, because when you count the number of people who hold elective offices in this country, they are very few when compared to the population. So, what you are searching for is really coveted, and is not a walk in the park. I really salute your courage.”

Osinbajo also encouraged the youth to not lose hope in the country as things would continue to change for the better if they remain committed to the ideals.

“As a young person, I belonged to several pressure groups. I graduated at the age of 21. And when I graduated, I began to participate in various pressure groups, human rights organisations, anti-corruption, civil society groups of every kind. When political parties started forming, we could not aspire, but we remained involved. My first involvement in government was when I was appointed as Attorney General in Lagos State.

“For seven years – after serving as Lagos Attorney-General – I was part of the party, I did not have a board appointment or anything, but I kept working for the party. I kept working for the party as a lawyer. Most of those cases we were not paid a dime. But we went from place to place. Sometimes we didn’t even have a place to stay when we went to court the next morning. So, there is a measure of paying the price, it depends on how serious or committed we are to some of the things we say we are committed to”, he said.