The Arewa Youth Federation watched with keen interest and unmitigated disappointed the attempt by Governor Elrufai to conceal his contradictory stands on the issue of zoning and rotation of the Nigerian Presidency. But his reaction during the recent interview on the program ‘Politics Today’ with Seun Okinbaloye on Channels Television betrayed him and brought to the fore his glaring hypocrisy aimed at betraying the collective interest of the Northern region for his self-serving interest to become a Vice President to a Southerner in 2023.
Arewa Youth Federation as the apex umbrella body of all northern youths organizations have consistently maintained that every Nigerian from any part of the country has a constitutional right to aspire for the Presidency and build bridges and alliance across the entire country to win a Pan-Nigerian mandate, as such we are totally and completely against the call by Governor Elrufai to zone the Presidency to the Southern region, even though we have it on good authority that he is doing it for selfish political reason because he is positioning himself for the Vice Presidency.
The fundamental fact still remain that the North-Central and South-east regions are the most marginalized in terms of equitable distribution of political power since the inception of our democratic dispensation. And In the spirit of equity, justice and fairness these regions ought to have been considered first in any arrangement or gentleman agreement and should be given the opportunity to taste political power. But any attempt to railroad the country or blackmail the major political parties to zone the Presidency to the Southern region would be resisted by the Northern Youths.
Globally youths are taking over leadership positions and their performance is adjudged beyond average, Nigerian youths should wake up from their slumber and stop canvassing for failed leaders. It’s high time for Nigerian Youths to constitute themselves as a unifying force and to stop backing visionless leaders like Governor Elrufai who is pursuing personal agenda against national interest, and who found himself in the corridor of power due to ethnic arithmetic and influence of President Muhammadu Buhari. The truth is that Governor Elrufai has failed to provide the legitimate expectations of his people in the area of security of lives and properties which is the primary responsibility of government. It is also on record that the citizens of Kaduna State are today economically worse than they were in 2015 and it’s due to failure of his leadership. In reality Elrufai and his likes do not possess the moral right to discuss the future political calculation of Nigeria having won a ‘Medal of Failure’ in the governance of Kaduna State.
Finally, we call on Nigerian youths to rise up to the challenge and take a cue from emerging global change in political leadership. We also condenm the stands of Governor Elrufai and his co-travellers and we call on the people of northern region to ignore his rantings and his position shouldn’t be misconstrued as the true position of the North. We equally wish to reiterate our earlier held position to canvass support for a youthful and youth friendly candidate from the North-Central region to stand up for 2023 calculation so that the region would be supported to produce the next President of our dear nation.
Comrade Adamu Kabir Matazu,
President, Arewa Youth Federation