House speaker Yakubu Dogara urged to stand down by youths in his Bauchi constituency

HOUSE of Representative speaker Hon Yakubu Dogara has been advised by the youths in his Bauchi State constituency to stand down at the end of his current term and allow a new generation of leaders to represent the people.

First elected to the House of Representatives in 2007, Hon Dogara, 50, became the speaker in 2015 after his All Progressives Congress (APC) became the largest party in the lower chamber. Expecting to stand again next year, Hon Dogara has been advised by the Forum for Youths Leadership in his Bogoro, Dass & Tafawa-Balewa Federal constituency to toe the path of honour and bury his 2019 ambitions.

Adamu Mohammed, the chairman of the forum, said this is imperative in order to end political monopoly and to inject new blood in the system. In addition, Mr Mohammed lamented the fact that poverty, hunger and economic impoverishment among the constituents cannot be quantified, attributing all this to a lack of empowerment.

He added: “We are not saying Dogara has not performed well but let him bury his 2019 fourth term ambition to engage other youths to contribute their quota. We expect the speaker to set the pace for perpetual reconciliation in the axis ravaged by ethnic and religious crisis so as to bring people under one umbrella to further effect development and cohesion."

According to Mr Mohammed, Hon Dogara had not invested in any individual known to him and others. He then urged the people of the area to reconsider voting out APC ahead of 2019, saying the party has failed them.