The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, has criticised
President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, over his comment against
the Northern Elders’ Forum.
AYCF called on Adesina to stop what it termed insults and
unguarded words against NEF’s convener, Prof. Ango Abdullahi.
Recall that Abdullahi had accused Buhari of failing in his
responsibility of protecting people of the North, following several attacks by
bandits and insurgents.
The NEF convener had cried out that the North was at the mercy
of criminals who are constantly terrorizing them.
Responding, Adesina described NEF as mere irritant and
featherweight.
The presidential spokesman said NEF lacked good leaders
However, AYCF berated Adesina for attacking NEF’s leadership,
stressing that Buhari’s spokesman has no respect for elders.
A statement signed by AYCF President-General, Yerima Shettima,
called on Adesina to apologise for his comments against Abdullahi.
AYCF wondered why Adesina should attack Abdullahi and NEF for
telling the government the truth regarding the killings in the North.
The youths warned that such attacks against its leaders won’t be
condoned from Adesina.
The statement reads: “That Femi Adesina has insulted the North
and we take exception to his choice of words, which we believe he would never
use against elders from Yoruba land for whatever reason. We demand the
withdrawal of the abusive language he deployed against Professor Ango Abdullahi
and other respected elders in NEF.
“We cannot fathom why telling truth to power over the increasing
killings in the North by Prof Ango warrants the use of derogatory language
against our elders by Femi Adesina
“We find it even scandalous that a Presidential Spokesman lacks
the right choice of words to use in dodging the reality of today’s Nigeria, in
which the North is worse off.
“We would like to make it abundantly clear that we will not
condone the deployment of foul language against our elders any more. This is
not the first time Mr. Adesina would be spewing foul language against elders of
our region but we hope it will be the last.
“While we stress that we would not take this kind of infantile
attack on our elders, we wish to call in all Northerners of good conscience to
ignore Adesina’s unguarded outburst against Prof Ango and NEF. Enough of this
nonsense please.”
In recent time, banditry, insurgents have been attacking
communities, killing people in Northern states like Kaduna, Katsina, Borno, Taraba,
and Sokoto States.
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