Youths from the Southeast geopolitical zone have declared support for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shetima.

The youths, under the aegis of Conference of South East Progressive Youths (CSEPY), said their support for the Tinubu/Shettima ticket was necessitated by their patriotism and capacity to deliver the much-needed dividends of democracy, as well as “their pan-Nigerian approaches to issues of national concerns”.

The group also pledged to support the APC in the zone by ensuring that the candidates of the party emerge victorious in the 2023 general election.

The youths specifically drew attention to the people-oriented policies and infrastructural transformation that defined the tenures of the APC’s presidential and vice presidential candidate in Lagos and Borno states respectively.

In a statement signed by their National President, Barr Emeka kalu, the Southeast youths said their support for Tinubu/Shettima, in the face of the subsisting ambition of an Igbo son, Mr. Peter Obi, to contest the presidency on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), is a demonstration of their desire to support competence rather than sentiment.

The statement reads in part: “At this time in the life of our dear nation, we must jettison sentiments, ethnic and religious affiliations, and opt rather for candidates with pan-Nigerian outlook, urbane, cerebral, track records of achievements, and above all, those with unifying capacities.

“We make bold to say that, a Tinubu/Shettima joint ticket, has all that we have enumerated above, hence our resolve to commit to its actualisation and realisation.

“By benefit of hindsight, we will like to remind Nigerians that it was Tinubu’s dogged spirit, and resilient character, that enabled him to weather the storm of seized Local Government Allocations, brought upon Lagos State by the then President Olusegun Obasanjo-led Administration.

“On his part, Shettima braved the odds of biting insurgency in Borno State, and enthroned a regime of infrastructure transformation, human-capital development, and religious harmony.

“We, therefore, wonder what other indices are needed to demonstrate capacity and capability to cause growth and development to happen, at a time of want such as we are expressing in the country today”.