BY: Oliseama Okwuchukwu
The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has cautioned “a certain Southwest political leader” and “his collaborators in the APC-led Federal Government” to steer clear of Senate President, Bukola Saraki and jettison “the new plot to unleash EFCC and other anti-corruption agencies in order to intimidate the man.”
This was contained in the text of press conference presented to newsmen in Lagos by AYCF National President, Yerima Shettima on Monday.
He accused the Lagos-based political leader of the Southwest and “some of his cronies in the corridors of power of planning to embarrass Senate President Bukola Saraki using the government’s anti-corruption agencies and based on politically-motivated charges”.
He noted that “much as the AYCF supports the war against corruption, we will resist any subtle attempt to hide behind politics to intimidate our sons in positions of authority”.
Alhaji Yerima also declared that the North had come of age and no one single Nigerian should determine the fate of prominent Northerners in government, “because we are not robots.”
He charged the Southwest political leader and his associates to start whatever change process they want from their base as “charity begins at home”.
He also stated that “through the total dominance and manipulation of political and economic power, the Southwest has badly shortchanged the North, making it’s people irrelevant in the running of government for more than four years.
“There is no way after cornering all the juicy Federal Government appointments and skewing development projects in favor of the Southwest anyone will dare approach the North with the issue of seeking for Presidency in 2023. That will be totally unacceptable”.
The group, he said, would “use all legitimate avenues for resisting the manipulations of one man whose primary goal in life is the 2023 Presidency and we’re assuring him that even that is no longer possible and a waste of his resources because the country belongs to all of us”.
The group also noted that the era of any politician calling the shots in other people’s territory was long gone, adding that “we’re not in a Banana Republic” and “the world has moved on from the era of political impunity”.
The AYCF also told the said Southwest political leader to “bear in mind that Senate President Saraki is our illustrious son in the North and we’re proud that he didn’t turn his back on the people who voted him into power.
“This is our open, democratic declaration of caution, not just for meddlesome politician of the Southwest but any politician outside the North who may want to dare us politically”.