Northern Groups Insist on Drug, Mental Test for Presidential, Governorship Candidates

A political interest group, the Concerned Northern Youths and the Coalition for National Agenda have demanded that all presidential and gubernatorial candidates should take drug tests as well as undergo medical and mental assessments to ascertain their readiness for the posts being contested.

In a joint press conference addressed by the Coordinator of the Concerned Northern Youths, Suleiman Tambay and his counterpart from the Coalition for National Agenda, Nnamdi Iroegbu, in Abuja, yesterday, they said the north and indeed other parts of country should ensure that any candidate who cannot account for his source of wealth or are of questionable character should not be voted in the 2023 elections.

Tambay, who read the statement of the coalition group, said they were serious about their campaign and would push for a legislation to make it mandatory for political aspirants to subject themselves to drug and medical tests as a precondition to be voted for in any election in Nigeria.

"It is glaring that the current political terrain is different from the previous drama where candidates make mockery of the poor, insult the collective intelligence of Nigerian polity by demonstrating the drinking of sachet water and milk, frying Kose on the road side and lapping children with running nose.

“The campaign plan has now shifted to having issue-based debates, town hall meetings, manifesto comparison and stakeholder deliberations.

"Needless to say that this is a step in the right direction. The need to sanitise the polity, ensure that only fit and proper persons occupy political offices, and enthrone equity and justice makes it imperative to raise the bar even higher by demanding that all presidential and gubernatorial candidates take drug tests, as well as undergo medical and mental assessment tests to ascertain their readiness for the noble and stressful task of good governance," he said.

He further said no candidate with cases of lingering drug dilemma or saddled with corruption charges should even be considered to be Nigeria’s president.

“Candidates who cannot account for their source of wealth are of questionable character. The north must take her destiny in her hands by ensuring that only leaders in the mold of, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Maitama Sule, Shehu & Umar Musa Yar’Adua, Aminu Kano, Tafawa Balewa are chosen because hunger and insecurity knows no tribe, region nor religion,” he said.

Tombay lamented that a once peaceful and homely northern region was now being ravaged by banditry, kidnapping and terrorism, “because the region suffer the helplessness and hopelessness of poverty and inequality that rendered many drug addicts.”

According to him, there over 20 million out-of-school children in the north and most of the 133 million National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) figure of multidimensional poor people in Nigeria are of Northern extraction.

"Again, the present challenge of over five million youths on drug addiction and another 10 million underemployed in the north clearly call for concern. A strong stance is required to stem this ugly tide.

"Nigeria must retake its place as the giant of Africa and deliver a Nigeria that works for all Nigerians. History doesn’t repeat itself, but people repeat the ugly history that defeats them.

"We call on all Concerned Nigerian Youths across the nation to be patriotic and ensure that we do not mortgage our future by voting for an alleged drug lord or any candidate with questionable credentials or wealth," he said.