Arewa youths have thrown their weight behind southern presidential candidate
Nothern youths under the aegis of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, have said they will only support a southern presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election.
Also: 2023: Ohanaeze Finally Declares Support For Presidential Candidate, Gives Reason
Newsonline reports that the northern group says Nigeria does not belong to the North alone or Muslims and Christians of the North.
The youths disagreed with a northern elder statesman, Alhaji Sani Zangon Daura, who avowed that the northern region should support a northern candidate for the nation’s presidency come 2023.
Alhaji Zangon Daura, in a viral video, while addressing a group of youths, suggested that they should throw their weight behind a fellow northerner for the presidency in 2023, citing historic and religious instances.
The AYCF National President, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, in a statement noted that the choice of a Southerner for President by the region was clearly in the spirit of justice.
The group insisted that even on moral grounds, the most responsible political action by the North was the decision on powershift in 2023, stressing that the Presidency cannot be hereditary and Nigeria is not a banana republic.
Shettima further explained that the elder statesman was only expressing his personal opinion and not the stand of the North in general, saying: “Little balancing was needed in position of our father Zangon Daura, moreso when he admitted that the elders are mere escorts for the younger generation today.”
The AYCF argued that when the 13 northern governors led by Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai endorsed a southern candidate for the 2023 presidency, they repeatedly cited political justice, explaining, “Though we are not card-carrying members of the APC, we shared the view that the decision was in line with being fair to the South in 2023.”
The youths stated that they are aware, as well as their father Zangon Daura, that the North is respected for honouring its promises to the South and this is one absolutely undeniable character of all northerners, adding that they are not known to breaking of promises and that explains why their son, President Muhammadu Buhari never objected to the idea of southern presidential candidate in the ruling party.
