Oyinlola Says Tinubu, Atiku Too Old To Be President, Calls For Younger Leaders

Former Osun State Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola has called on President Bola Tinubu and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to retire from active politics and let younger Nigerians take charge of the country.

Oyinlola said Nigeria needs a younger president capable of shouldering the country’s responsibilities and meeting citizens’ expectations for effective governance.

He noted that many Nigerians were yearning for younger leadership, arguing that the country needed fresh energy and ideas to address its challenges.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Programme Politics Today, the former governor also distanced himself from the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, insisting that the former Rivers State governor was not his political leader despite their membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Oyinlola, who said Wike was still in school when he served as governor, maintained that Wike could not claim leadership over him.

On the lingering crisis within the PDP, Oyinlola disclosed that former President Olusegun Obasanjo had been making efforts to reposition and rebuild the party but was being frustrated by individuals working against its unity.

He, however, dismissed suggestions that the PDP was dead, insisting that the party remained strong across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas.

According to him, the party could regain its strength if its members put aside their differences and work together, although he acknowledged that powerful interests were frustrating efforts to restore unity.

The former governor also revealed that he had set a personal retirement benchmark when he joined politics, saying he had resolved to step aside from active political engagement at 65 if he failed to achieve his political ambitions by then.