Northern Youths: North will retain presidency in 2023

NORTHERN youths under the aegis of Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (AYCF) have vowed that power will remain in Northern Nigeria after the second term of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

The president of AYCF, Malam Yerima Shettima, who spoke on behalf of the group, said power must remain in the North after President Muhammad Buhari has completed his eight years in office because “it is the only thing the region has.”

Speaking with Saturday Tribune in a telephone interview in Kaduna on Friday evening, the Arewa youth leader, who also said he was not speaking in his personal capacity but on behalf of the youths of the region backed by their leaders, disclosed that the ‘north would not allow power to shift to the south.”

According to him, the only thing the region can be proud of having under its control at this moment is political power, saying “the North has not gained anything from the Buhari presidency.”

“The Buhari-led administration has favoured only the South-West. “The current government is purely a south-west government,” he declared.

He said: “I don’t know who is going to be the next president of Nigeria until we see those who will declare interest.”

However, talking about the zone which should produce the president in 2023, he said “I have said it on many occasions that the North will produce the next president and you could see that the issue is becoming very clear.

“I don’t just make pronouncements on something I am not sure of. We are sure that this government has not favoured the North. This government is purely a South-West government. They have taken everything.”

He also said that the only thing that is holding the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) together is President Buhari, adding that the party would die before 2023.

“Even in the National Assembly, somebody was working to ensure that his interest is protected to make it easy for him to become president come 2023, but unfortunately the party itself will die before 2023.

“By 2023, All Progressives Congress (APC) will no longer be visible. The only thing that holds that party together is President Buhari, but he is not coming back.

“This is his last tenure and I am sure the Buhari I know will be busy thinking of how to go for his retirement rather than thinking of whether the party survives or not.

• We don’t hate Buhari, but he doesn’t understand the demands of his office —Adebanjo

“He has achieved all he wanted to achieve. He has become both head of state and civilian president.”

On what informed his belief that APC would die before 2023, Shettima said: “It is because the characters that formed the party do not share the same ideology. Theirs was a completely unholy marriage.

“We will continue to fight until our last blood. We will continue to expose them until the right people come to governance. It is not a personal thing; it is for us. The North has to retain power.

“You cannot take power, which is the only thing that is left for us now. The current president is not really helping us. Insecurity has destroyed the entire North. We are left with poverty, kidnapping and banditry on a daily basis.

“People are dying and you think the little power we have, despite the fact it is not being used for the best interest of our people, we will just fold our arms and allow it to be taken back by the South, which has resources.

“The common man in the North is not benefiting anything; the whole thing is held in the hands of a few individuals and you think we will allow that.”