Orji Uzor Kalu Former Gov of Abia state received the leaders of the Coalition of Arewa Youths led by its Chairman, Alhaji Shettima Yerima. Photo: Twitter.
The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum has warned that northern Nigeria would not tolerate the imposition of presidential candidate for 2019.
This was according to a statement by the AYCF on Sunday where it also noted that it would not let the region turn into an experimental ground for the elections.
“We will no longer tolerate the kind of imposition that brought the nation’s economy to knees and all we now get is empty propaganda instead of performance,” the statement said.
“This is an insult on the sensibilities of all Nigerians who struggled to drive away the military in order to pave way for democracy
“Even though the consensus is that power should reside within the North in 2019, we make bold to say no one should dare try to teleguide the region and its people this time around.
“Northerners have a right to their democratic aspirations and choice of a President and no one should try to usurp such constitutional power through the backdoor.”
Furthermore, it said “We want to make it vary clear that the era of imposition of anyone on the North is gone.
“We are watching, very closely, the turn of events on Nigeria’s democratic space at the moment and won’t take any form of manipulation by people who know little or nothing about the kind of leadership the people of the North want.
“We cannot fathom why people outside the North should turn our region into their political experiment field, choosing a candidate who would take orders from them and abandon his own people’s wishes and aspirations.
“This is primitive, unacceptable and a smear on well-known democratic principles of a modern, independent nation that we have been in over 50 years.
“The earlier this shameful manipulation of our hopes in democracy is stopped, the better for our relationship with our neighbours.
“On no account should anyone take the North for granted again, especially on the matter of 2019 presidency. We are no fools and the world has come a long way from the era of political obscurantism and harmful patronage.