President of Ebonyi Chamber of Commerce Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Dr Ezeh Emmanuel Ezeh, has lamented the pervasive influence of transactional politics, saying that after 33 years in politics, President Bola Tinubu and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar have become a distraction to young people.

He contended that the two veteran politicians should excuse themselves from the 2027 presidential election to pave the way for fresh ideas in governance, adding that the two former political allies have converted political competition to a contest of personal egos.

Ezeh, who is a member of the Obidient Movement and former Labour Party’s candidate for the National Assembly in the 2023 election, called on Atiku to shelve his intention to contest the 2027 presidential election in the interest of equity and national unity.

He discovered that the Vice President had exported the same argument and tactics that led to the destruction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and urged him to comport himself as a statesman by supporting a younger candidate in the coalition.

Ezeh, who spoke to journalists in Abuja, declared that the 2027 general election would be a defining moment for Nigerian youths to take their political destiny into their own hands, remarking that the time has come for the two old war horses to call it a day in electoral contests.

He observed that while stench of Atiku’s rumoured interest in contesting the presidential ticket of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) is threatening the unity of purpose of the coalition.

MEANWHILE, a stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, yesterday, cautioned the former Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, and other opposition leaders to stop heating the nation’s polity. He contended that the utterances and actions of some opposition leaders were already causing unnecessary tension in the country.

In a statement forwarded to journalists in Osogbo, Oyintiloye, who hitherto represented Obokun State Constituency in the Osun State House of Assembly, noted that despite almost two years to 2027 general polls, the tension being generated in the country is becoming disturbing.

He referenced a statement allegedly credited to Amaechi, calling for a violent protest for a change of government ahead of the 2027 elections, as unwarranted and unpatriotic.

ALSO, some political stakeholders, yesterday, gathered in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, and jointly agreed that the new African Democratic Congress (ADC) is a timely strategic move by the opposition to salvage “troubled Nigeria” from imminent collapse.

According to the participants from across the country, it is only a strong opposition, free of direct and indirect influence from the ruling party that can save Nigeria from the situation they referred to as an ‘irony of a collapsing rich nation.’

In his welcome address, the governorship aspirant of the APC, Prof. Abdulmumin Yinka Ajia, at his yearly colloquium, stated that ADC is good enough as a credible coalition platform for the opposition.