POLITICIANS TOLD TO SURRENDER STOLEN WEALTH

Students of the University of Lagos Engineering Society (ULES) have charged politicians in the country to surrender their stolen property. They expressed sadness that some of the corrupt politicians who ordinarily should be hiding their faces in shame were still rearing up their ugly heads to run for the 2011 elections.

President of the association, Mr. Sogbamu Oluwaseun Taiwo, who stated this at the send-off ceremony of the graduating students in Lagos, argued that the youths were what the nation needed to effect the change it had been yearning for.

'The best leaders we have today are all youthful. Look at the likes of Barak Obama of United States, the late Murtala Mohammed and others. They have made great influence in governance.'

Taiwo dismissed a statement credited to a former military president that the youths lacked the wherewithal to steer the ship of the nation and warned against any attempt to disenfranchise the youths in the 2011 elections.

He urged Nigerian youths to resist efforts by misguided politicians to use them (youths) as tools to truncate Nigeria's nascent democracy.

In his speech, a youth empowerment consultant, Mr. Eniola Joshua, who was also a graduating student, said Nigeria had been abused and traumatized by her leaders over the years.

He warned corrupt politicians to give up all they had stolen, pointing out that, 'the youths are now more enlightened. We cannot allow our future to be mortgaged. And we can no longer tolerate the excesses of these self styled politicians.'

Joshua commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on their plan to employ National Youths Corps members in the registration of voters, describing the practice as 'Timely. It shows that the long awaited change Nigeria desired has finally come. The action will ensure integrity in the conduct of the 2011 polls,' he noted.