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A youth group under the eagis Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has berated former president Olusegum Obasanjo for trying to instigate violence in the country.
The group urged Nigerian youths not to be willing tools in the hands politicians who wants to disrupt the ongoing electoral process and destabilize the country.
In a statement signed by the National President of the group, Alahaji Yerima Shettima, the group alleged that there is a grand plot by the elderstateman and some politicians who are afraid of defeat to destabilize the country.
The statement read, “our attention has been drawn to a viral news in which otherwise elderstatesmen are working hand-in-hand with politicians who are afraid of defeat in the 2023 elections to overheat the polity and eventually destabilize this nation.
“We are appalled by the level of incendiary comments, designed to deliberately ignite violence in the name of promoting free and fair elections. Consequent upon this emerging threat, we wish to state for the records that:-
“We have had enough of mindless killings in defence of personal interest of grabbing power by any politician through the back door”, he said.
The group implored Nigerian youths never to allow themselves to be used as cannon-fodder for unpatriotic elements, who are masquerading as democrats.
“We are watching very closely, the activities of agent provocateurs, operating from the shadows, with the sole aim of creating regional and religious sentimentalism, meant to lead to massive killings of innocent souls in the name of politics.
“Let anyone not be deceived by their strategy against national unity and cohesion, the two important pillars of peace and brotherhood in today’s Nigeria.
“We were taken aback by the so-called letter of former President Obasanjo, making provocative statements, in his usual manner of pretending to be addressing our current challenges in the 2023 elections, the statement read.
The statement further condemned the former President for being the only one taking dangerous, narrow-minded stance on any political situation in Nigeria. As against his contemporaries like General Ibrahim Babangida, General Abdussalam Abubakar — who is now one of the most outstanding, exemplary promoters of national peace and stability.
While commending Good luck Jonathan as an elderstatesman of respectable standing who has maintained his respect by not being openly partisan, the group said Nigerians would have by now been disappointed by former President Obasanjo’s decidedly partisan activities.
The statement read further, “he is on record to identify with a candidate for national election and offered to be the prime mover of what has now become a destabilizing political aspiration of his proxy in the 2023 elections. This unstatesmanly imposition is unfortunate.
“We call on all Nigerians of good conscience to intervene in the concerted efforts to promote national peace and stability, especially in this cooling-off period of general elections. We cannot afford to compromise on the ligaments binding us together in brotherhood and nationhood after 60 years of independence.
“The current democracy would not have been possible without the massive contribution of the youth and we will not fold our arms and watch selfish interests deployed in using the same youth to truncate democracy and destroy the flowering of our National ethos.
We therefore warn again,that Nigeria is not a Banana Republic”, read the statement.
