Politics

Northerners should vote for presidential candidate sensitive to North’s needs-NEF

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The Northern Elders Forum has called on northerners across Nigeria to vote for a presidential candidate and other individuals vying for elective national offices sensitive to the “needs” of the North.

NEF expressed its commitment to patriotism and mobilisation of the region to participate in national and economic development effectively.

The forum made the declaration during the General Assembly and Commemoration of its 10th anniversary on Wednesday in Abuja.

The convener of the forum, Ango Abdullahi, said despite minor differences which have unavoidably existed among northern groups, their common commitment to the core interests of the North had never been in doubt.

“We, the General Assembly of the NEF, are patriotic citizens of Nigeria bound by history, geography, shared experience and common circumstances of existence in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

We are aware of our common values, diversity in faith, demography, cultures, political interests and conscious of the roles our region plays in the history of Nigeria,” said Mr Abdullahi.

“We are committed to reversing the decline in the fortunes of our region and improving its standing in relationships with the rest of the country.”

Mr Abdullahi added,

“We, therefore, pledge to organise fellow Northerners to work in search of committed leadership with integrity, competence and compassion to find solutions to our multiple problems.”

The NEF chieftain noted that the group would “collaborate with other Nigerians to create a united country of people characterised by diversity and sensitivity to values of justice and respect for the rights of all citizens.

“We shall also encourage Northerners to participate fully in the 2023 elections and elect people who are sensitive to our needs,” Mr Abdullahi added.

According to him, NEF has resolved to support credible elections and a peaceful transition to the next elected administration and resist any attempt to subvert Nigeria’s democratic system by any unconstitutional means.

He added that the forum would also respect the popular will expressed by credible elections, irrespective of the origin and identity of the winner.

“We shall also support the next administration to address major challenges that inhibit the growth, development, peace and security of the North and Nigeria in general.

We shall engage the rest of Nigeria as respected equals and continue to demand that the rights of Northerners will not be abused, sacrificed or neglected by any government or group,” Mr Abdullahi noted.

Mr Abdullahi expressed NEF’s high regard for leaders of other groups from the North, Christian and Muslim clergy, and the elite who have also been tireless in ensuring that the northerners are not shortchanged.

“Our response to threats that certain parts of the country will be locked down and out of the elections is that this is a threat to all Nigerians.

We demand that the government of President Buhari and all other leaders and elders must call out this dangerousness bluff,” the NEF chieftain stressed.

“Those who say they will not accept credible results from the elections unless their candidates win represent threats to national security and should be treated as such.”

Entertainment

Seun Kuti says northern, southern elites do no represent the interest of their people

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Nigerian musician and social activist, Seun Kuti has opined in an Instagram post that majority of Northern and Southern elites do not represent the interest of their people.

Taking to Instagram on Tuesday afternoon, Seun Kuti, who is the last son of legendary Nigerian recording artiste, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, said most elites from the aforementioned parts of Nigeria are primarily interested in their own personal agenda.

“Both the northern and southern elites don’t represent the interests of their people. I have northern friends and none of them wants to be my overlord. Not a single one,” he said.

Kuti went further;

“I am aligned with the people and their interests not with the oppressor and his interests. We need class consciousness before we kill each other for nothing.”

Politics

Afenifere is a terrorist group, must be proscribed —Northern Coalition

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The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has labelled the Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, a terrorist organisation, calling on the Federal Government to immediately proscribe it as well as other cultural tribal organisations undermining the peace, security and peaceful coexistence of the country.”

In a statement issued on Monday by Abdul-Azeez Suleman, CNG’s spokesman and made available to Ripples Nigeria, the Northern Coalition said any organisation or individuals associated with groups that incite others to violations or openly support acts of terror and terrorist movements should be arrested and decisively dealt with by the authorities.

Part of the statement reads;

The CNG emphatically repudiate the provocative action of remnants of those who harbour pent-up grudges against the rest of Nigeria for the failure of Awolowo’s tribalistic ambition to secure the nation’s leadership, and deem this affront.

“The CNG unequivocally declare that groups like Afenifere and other organisations who go about making inciting statements to undermine the corporate existence of Nigeria are terrorists organisations and we call on the Federal Government under the able leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, to recognise them as such and proscribe them with immediate effect.

We have noticed, sadly, that Afenifere has, over the years, constituted themselves into a nuisance by always making statements capable of throwing the nation into chaos and anarchy and the government should rein them in and curb their excesses.”

Politics

Nigeria, with borrowed laws, has no structure to restructure —Northern Coalition

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Spokesman of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), Abdul-Aziz Sulaiman, has called on advocates of restructuring to have a rethink as there is nothing on ground in Nigeria that warrants a restructuring.

Sulaiman who was a guest at a retreat organised by the Northern Caucus of the House of Representatives on Monday in Abuja, warned that those who are “hell-bent on putting the country in a dilemma before and after their exit through agitations should be tackled” to desist from such actions.

The CNG spokesman argued that “someone could not be an advocate of restructuring and at the same time insisting he must exit the country, adding that Nigeria as a nation had no existing structures which could be restructured.”

We have always insisted that you can’t restructure where there is no structure. We need to have a nation first before we build a structure for it and then we can restructure consequently.

“Honestly, we need to tell ourselves the truth; there is no Nigeria because a section of the country has insisted and persisted that they are not Nigerians for 60 years now.

“Why must we insist that they are part of Nigeria? Why must we insist on restructuring in keeping the people who said they are not part of us?

“These people just want to go and leave us in problems. We are not concerned about restructuring. What we are saying is a referendum to define the name ‘Nigeria’. We are living on a borrowed name, borrowed boundaries and borrowed laws.

The National Assembly must stop the ongoing constitutional review across the country and look for a way to put up a referendum that will pave the way for the agitators to leave,” Sulaiman added.

Politics

Federal government must apologize to families of slain Zabarmari rice farmers.

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A youth group, the North-east Youth Progressive Alliance, has called on the Federal Government to immediately apologize to the families of the Zabarmari rice farmers massacred last Saturday by Boko Haram insurgents.

Addressing journalists late Tuesday evening at the NUJ Press Centre, Bauchi, the spokesman of the group, Barrister Hussaini Saraki, described the statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, Mallam Garba Shehu, that the slain farmers did not get permission from the military before going to their farms as most unfortunate.

Describing the statement as uncalled for, Saraki declared that it must be withdrawn with apology tendered to Nigerians, adding that the current insecurity in the North was not what the people bargained for.

According to him, “Whoever made that statement is out of his mind. It is uncalled for and must be withdrawn and apologize to Nigerians immediately.

“The entire North is bleeding and no one seems to care; the leaders among us have chosen to remain silent, watching how innocent people are being slaughtered while thousands are displaced and made refugees in their own country.

“This was not part of the bargain made, neither was it the supposed dividend of democracy promised to our people.”

The group equally called on the Federal Government to ensure that the families of the slain farmers are adequately compensated with a view to relieving them of their pains.

Lamenting the various security challenges bedevilling the North, North-east Youth Progressive Alliance spokesman called on the government to, as a matter of urgency, bring to an end all forms of insecurity in the region.

The group called for the recruitment of Borno youths into the Nigerian Army, Police and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), adding that such youths recruited should be deployed to help in the fight against insurgency in their state.

He stated that it was obvious that the current strategies deployed in the fight against insurgency in the North-East had failed, going by the fact that Boko Haram is still carrying out attacks, particularly the latest one.

Politics

Northern Group Suspends Protests over Insecurity

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The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has suspended its #EndInsecurityNow protest across northern states.

In a statement issued yesterday, the spokesman of the group, Abdulhazeez Suleiman, said the CNG was disturbed.

By the happenings across the country, especially the “raiding of Benin Central Prison, Edo State, leading to the escape of inmates all in the name of #EndSARS protest.”

The statement said while the coalition has no quarrel with people expressing their grievances by holding peaceful protest, “we, however, find it disturbing that protests want to degenerate into lawlessness and brigandage.

“Consequent upon this, the CNG categorically states that it will neither associate with, or identify with, nor recognise any movement by any persons, groups or from whichever section or class in the country that portends greater danger to the country or tends to tilt towards anarchy.”

It stated further that: “In this light, we condemn with all our might, the actions of those who perpetrate criminal acts in the guise of protests anywhere in Nigeria, and strongly denounce those who instigate others to commit acts of violence and lawlessness under whatever pretext.

“We thus emphatically repudiate the reported raid of the Benin prison facility, and deem any further act of brigandage on the public and public assets not only immoral and illegal but also condemnable and abhorrent to the country’s sensibilities and ordinary decency.”

Suleiman said: “The CNG hereby impresses on all its formations on the #EndInsecurityNow protests across the 19 northern states to desist from identifying with the protests, and shun any act that may further cause additional instability in the region and potentially affects the general peace of the country.

“We urge them to remain decent, orderly and civilized as they peacefully press for action to end the bleeding in the North without molesting or oppressing fellow citizens and provoking public disorder.

“The #EndInsecurityNow protests in the northern states must not be seen to cause public fear through traffic disruptions, rampage on private and public assets or involved with provocative utterances, altercations and other forms of indecent conduct.

“With this development, the CNG hereby directs all its state chapters to immediately stay further action and suspend all protests forthwith effectively from October 20, 2020.”

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