The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum( AYCF) says the region will not support a northern presidential candidate in the 2023 elections.
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 Yerima Shettima, the AYCF National President, in a statement noted that the choice of a Southerner for President by the region was clearly in the spirit of justice, saying that Nigeria does not belong to the North alone or Muslims and Christians of the North.
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.
Alhaji Zangon Daura, had in viral audio 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, something the AYCF said it believed was overtaken by events, current realities and the spirit of justice and fairness in the Nigerian project.
