The Arewa Youth
Consultative Forum President, Pre Alh.
YerimaShettima has made it
clear that any Nigerian above the age of 50 should not eye the presidency come 2023
.
This is because the aged ones had completely failed the
country since they took over the mantle of leadership from our founding fathers.
In his words, “we refused to harness our human and natural resources and put them on the right track for us to be very productive, rather, we only count on number every day on one story or the other.
“It is sad and unfortunate today that this country is where
it is today despite the fact that some of us are willing to cope with the
situation and move it forward no matter what.
“What they succeeded in doing is to balkanize and cause more divisions among us the present generation.
It is either you are caught up in an issue of religion or tribe over and over
and this has continued.”
He further explained, “What we are doing now as youths of
this country is to form synergy, build capacity before the next elections to
ensure that never again will we allow any one that is not our contemporary to
occupy any political space, we won’t do that and that is what we are doing now.
“The youths are set for 2023. Recent happenings in the
country have shown that we have the capacity and that is a clear demonstration
of ENDSARS, it happens just within a
small place and if you could see how it exposed a lot of weakness on the part
of the federal government, we don’t intend to go through that process of
ENDSARS where there were casualties of lives and properties. No, we are going
to be very objective, we will demand through political process, through the
ballot paper, through our voters Cards, we will mobilize our generation, never
again will we put somebody at the helm of affairs that is above 50 years.”
He also lamented that the older ones in the country, who got
everything on a platter of gold “are still not ready to relinquish power to the
present generation”, stressing that, “We expect them to set the pace, to put
the present generation on the right track so that at the end of the day, side
by side, work with them and move the country forward.
“They refused and still maintained the status-quo and that
is why often times when a new team comes up, because of their mindset, they are
not thinking towards moving Nigerians to higher standards.”
On the insecurity of the country, to change the service Chiefs is not enough to solve
the security challenges in the country.
“There is need to overhaul the entire security network in
the country. It has to be a thing of side by side with the communities so that
together we can have confidence on the security agents, because it requires a
lot to build that confidence.
“Overtime, that confidence has been abused by the various
sectors of the security, it requires inclusiveness of the members of the
society side by side with the security agents so that we can do it through
intelligence gathering, because we are faced with issues of kidnapping, Boko Haram, banditry and other social
vices in the country.
“So it is not a natural conventional approach that we always
see, this one is a different methodology and so to that extent, the government
must be seen to provide all the necessary equipment for the security to be able
to succeed, that is, to counter what their enemies are carrying.”
On reprisals, he noted, “Government has a lot of job to do,
Nigerians are doing their bit, the government must be seen to be decisive, to
do justice to all, government must be seen to deal with anybody found wanting,
because the law is law to everybody in the country.
“There is no way why anybody should take the law into his or
her hand. The government should be seen doing the right thing so that the
people will also sit up to do the right thing.”
Regarding the farmers
and herdsmen clashes in the country,
he recommended that the federal government need to ensure that only modernized
style of grazing was done to avoid any clashe between the farmers and the
herdsmen in any part of the country.
Three doctors
and a nurse got the first does of the vaccine on Friday.
Plans are
being made to send the vaccine across the country and governors have promised
to take the dose on live television to encourage people to get vaccinated.
However, Governor
Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has said he would not take the vaccine because
he is healthy.
Bello, who
said Kogi has more serious issues to deal with, has repeatedly described COVID
as a ruse.
Governor
Yahaya Bello of Kogi
has reiterated that COVID-19 is not their business in the state.
Speaking on a Channels Television programme, Bello declared that he would neither take any vaccine nor compel anyone in the state to take it.
He said if
the Federal Government is gracious enough to send the vaccine to the state, the
government would accept it and ask anyone willing to take it to come forward.
It has been reported
that there has been controversy between the Kogi State Government and federal
health authorities over COVID-19 cases in the state.
The
government of Bello has consistently declared that the state is COVID-19 free.
As the
Federal Government rolled out the AstraZeneca Vaccine Jabs on Friday,
Nigerians were encouraged to take the vaccine.
But the Kogi
Governor restated that COVID-19 is not the business of the state.
Bello said, “COVID-19 is not our business in Kogi State. We are dealing with more serious issues in Kogi State, not COVID-19. COVID-19 is just the minutest aspect of what we are treating in Kogi State.
“There has
been an outbreak of Lassa Fever, Yellow Fever and those were handled without
making noise. On the last Yellow Fever outbreak, we vaccinated our people
against it, we encouraged them, we educated them and they felt the impact
because it ravaged some communities in Kogi State.
“They came up
and we vaccinated them. So if the Federal Government is gracious enough to give
us COVID-19 vaccines, we are only going to sensitize our people, whoever wishes
to come and take should come forward and take the vaccination but I am not
going to subject the people of Kogi State to vaccination. I will not make them
the guinea pigs.”
Asked if he would join President Muhammadu Buhari to take the vaccine on live TV, he said, “Mr. President is the leader of this country. I respect him so much. All of us respect him so much. We love him and he is leading by example. If he needs to take the vaccine and he takes it, it is a welcome development. As far as I am concerned. I, as a person, don’t need to take a vaccine. Nothing is wrong with me, I am hale, hearty, 100 percent healthy. I can give you my health report anytime you desire it.”
Aisha Yesufu, a human rights activist, says the words of President Muhammadu Buhari “mean nothing”.
Reacting to
the abduction of the students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe,
Zamfara State, Yesufu said the primary responsibility of government is to
protect lives.
In a strongly
worded statement on Friday night, Buhari had warned bandits that he would not fall
for threats and blackmail.
He had also
said that his government had the capacity to deal with them but has not taken
drastic action to prevent a situation where captives are used as shields.
Yesufu said
Nigerians are used to a president “whose words are meaningless”.
“What I make of the statement is absolutely nothing. We are used to a president whose words mean nothing. He says one thing, and another thing happens.”
“The body
language of President Muhammadu Buhari enables the terrorists. They know that
we have an ineffective President and Commander-In-Chief, we have an
incompetent one a clueless one, who does not even bother about what is
happening in the nation.
“Yesterday we
buried seven military officers, the best that we have, the nation was in
mourning and the President was a few minutes away from the location of the
burial and didn’t even turn up, what does that signify? It Is high time we
began to make serious demands on the president.
“It is not in
our place to give the way forward. His salaries are being paid for it; his
needs are being taken care of. He was voted to give the way forward,” she said.
Yesufu was a
strong member of the #Bring Back Our Girls Movement, which was on the
frontline of the campaign for the release of students abducted from Government
Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, in 2014.
Up till
dates, some of the students are still in captivity.