National President, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, Alhaji Shettima Yerima yesterday joined the presidential race, saying enough was enough for the ruling class in the country.

Yerima who is younger of all the aspirants of the office in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and opposition All Progressive Congress, APC, declared his intention on the platform of Young Democratic Party, YDP. His entry has apparently charged up the Nigerian political firmament, meaning that should he eventually emerge the candidate of his party, he shall be squaring up with President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP and others in the 2015 elections.

Speaking to Journalists in Abuja after obtaining his nomination which he said cost N11m; Yerima said both PDP and APC have failed the youth and indeed, Nigeria at large. He noted that the table of politics the world over has turned around with younger persons joining the race.

He also stated that16 years of PDP has brought nothing but abject poverty to the people, stressing that President Goodluck Jonathan has nothing to offer even if he is given another opportunity. He said: “The 16 years of PDP has given Nigerians nothing than abject poverty, terrorism, lack of development and so on. It is obvious that even if you give President Goodluck Jonathan another opportunity, he will not give anything to Nigerian than total collapse of the system. Already, the system has collapsed. I think the way the system is now, if we continue to rely and keep hoping on the same two parties, I do not think we are being fair to ourselves. This why we feel that this is a revolution.

“As a people, from our experiences and background, we have a lot to offer this country. But sometimes, the way the political actors behave, one begins to think whether they have an answer to the Nigerian problem.

“If you look at the government of the day, you will notice that the man who is in charge has no control of the government. It is either he is totally blinded by somebody or his government has been hijacked.

“Now, if you look at the other side, in a normal society, the entire world, you could see that those who are yearning for power are all young, vibrant people. So, I don’t think it is a good development for us to have over aged people to continue recycling themselves.

The presidential aspirant refuted insinuations that his ambition has the imprint of PDP against the presidential ambition of General Mohammdu Buhari since both of them hail from the same North West geopolitical zone. “Mohammdu Buhari is as good as a father to me. I know him very well and I have worked closely with him. But the fact of the matter is that we have come to the point that whatever you do, people will read meanings into and to that extent, you cannot do what you are doing. But however, I don’t have any relationship with PDP.

“I feel that this party, YDP will strongly assist me in offering whatever I have to offer to the country. This party has nothing to do with PDP or APC. This is a movement of its own and I think its pan Nigerian movement. The structure is well established. We need the support of every Nigerian. Whether I am accused of being sponsored by the PDP or APC, the fact still remains that we cannot be deterred or discouraged on what we want”, he said.