The
Arewa Youth Consultative Forum has called on former president Olusegun
Obasanjo’s to back off from State of the nation.
The group speaking through
its president Yerima Shettima stated that Obasanjo was a product of calamity.
This
is in reaction to Obasanjo’s newly formed Coalition of Nigerian Movement, a
third force against the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives
Congress.
Shettima, although not in
agreement with Obasanjo’s involvement in governance, agreed with his message
urging Buhari to resign as Nigeria does not need a leader between 70-80 years.
Speaking with Vanguard, he
said “On Obasanjo’s letter, he is a product of same calamity that has befallen
this country and we hope that people like him should not advise us because when
we need advise on some areas, we will consult him. We don’t need his advise
now. I don’t care about the messenger but I care about the message and that is
the most important thing for now.
“The hope of Nigerians have
been dashed. We just came out of the PDP government with a change mantra
campaign with the hope that our problems would have been solved but we are
worse off. There is nothing wrong with having a third force. I am not talking
about force of an Obasanjo agenda. I am talking about a force that will come
with an idea that is different from the PDP and the APC that will bring about
good candidates and policies that will put smile on the face of Nigerians
rather than the people that will make Nigerians die from hunger. I think we
should encourage that.
“Look at the case of the
former Secretary to the government of the federation, the whole country was not
happy with the way the issue was handled. Yet it took former president Olusegun
Obasanjo’s letter for the government to act. Even at that he was kept in the
private guest house of the Economic and Financial Crimes commission and was
allowed to leave in the name of bail. I do not think that we will be patient
again with this government to take another long time to come up with another
team. If he brings in new people now, they will say they are studying the
situation which might take another one year.”
On Buhari’s performance and
fight against corruption, Shettima said the government had failed in both.
“Even before the former president
wrote that letter, we have always known and we have said so strongly that the
hope of Nigerians have been dashed. Government policies have not shown any sign
of bringing the country out of the wood. Rather than going forward, we are
retrogressing with the government blaming everybody except itself. It is
obvious that the last three years is nothing to write home about.
“The expectations of
Nigerians have not been met. With the look of things and the age of the present
government, it is clear that we do not see any positive thing coming up that
will be better than what we had in the past. As northerners, we feel
disappointed because his failure will be seen as the failure of the north.
“I had said it long time ago
that President Muhammadu Buhari has done his best. He is a man who actually
means well for this country but with the collection of people he has around
him, there is no proper coordination. It is clear that at the end of the day,
we might not get any good result.
“We will also not make the
same mistake of voting people in the age bracket of 70 to 80 years. Our target
is to seek opinion of Nigerians to build capacity, consult our southern
counterparts to ensure that we come up with a candidate that is younger than
the age of Buhari so that at the end of the day, with the support of the
youths, I am sure that at the end of the day, we will come to realize the
Nigeria of our dream. I took that position long before now.
“I do not think they are
fighting corruption in the right way. What is before the public, and every body
knows this, is that people who were accused of stealing public funds, decamp
from the People’s Democratic Party to the All Progressive Congress. That is why
you have a lot of these guys with skeleton today in the APC. They are not joining
the APC because they believe in the party but because they believe they will be
shielded. I think it is part of the agreement for them to come to the APC. This
is not the way to fight corruption,” Shettima added.
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