You don’t represent the North, Arewa youths reply Presidency over attack

Arewa community celebrate Lagos @50 at Agege stadium.PHOTO BY AKEEM SALAU

Kaduna – The Arewa Youths Consultative Forum has taken a swipe at the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, saying it represents not the North of the country but a “a cabal of evil doers”.

Arewa community celebrate Lagos @50 at Agege stadium.PHOTO BY AKEEM SALAU

In a statement  in Kaduna, the Forum said Nigerians, irrespective or religion or ethnicity, must come together to vote out the Buhari administration in 2019.

The statement, signed by the President of the Forum, Yerima Shettima, spoke in response to the statement by the Presidency, condemning the characterization of the administration by a coalition of different socio-political organisations across the country as incompetent.

The Nothern Elders Forum,Afenifere, Ohanaeze and PANDEF, in a recent summit, had described the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari as incompetent.

But in a response, presidential aide, Garba Shehu, said    it considered the communique “issued by some ethnic and sectional groups assembled in Abuja recently as the shedding of crocodile tears by selfish leaders, who felt alienated after a transparent and accountable system halted their disproportionate survival on resources of the state.”

Shettima said the statement from the Presidency was “intemperate and highly immature”.

“It is sad that instead of facing the honest assessment of the killing fields Nigeria has become under this government by elders and leaders who have nothing at stake but the best interest of Nigeria, the Presidency resorted to crude attacks and motor-park insults,” he added.

“To say that elders who have no material needs in their very old years are shedding “crocodile tears” because a government that has been rated the most corrupt in this history has blocked their access to public funds is laughable as a ridiculous claim but sad because it reflects how petty and shallow the minds of those in charge of our affairs are.

“The response has confirmed the take of the leaders that Nigeria needs a dynamic and visionary leadership to take over from the current incompetent,insensitive and visionless bunch running the country to the edge of the precipice”.