The Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, AYCF, has praised the courage of former president Olusegun Obasanjo in his letter asking President Muhammadu Buhari not to contest the 2019 presidential election.
In a lengthy and strong-worded letter dispatched to the Presidential Villa on Tuesday, the former President advised Buhari to resign and go home for various reasons.
Reacting to the development, the president of Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, who spoke with Vanguard, pointed out that what Obasanjo said was what they had seen long ago and had been drawing the president’s attention to.
Shettima said though Obasanjo was not any different from Buhari, the message he sent was very germane and must be heeded to.
He accused President Buhai’s “blind supporters” of being sycophantic, adding that they failed to tell him the truth.
“Obasanjo is saying what people like us saw from inception. We saw it coming earlier than now. We felt patriotism does not mean if government favours you, you cannot be objective. Being objective means even if it is your father that is doing something strong, you should summon courage to say it is right or wrong.
“To me, I strongly believe that the only way you can show you love Buhari is to tell him the simple truth, which we did long before now but when we advised him how to do better than the previous governments, we were tagged Buhari’s enemy by his blind followers who felt whatever he does is right.
“It is not done that way because, government is like a barrack. Anybody can be there. “This is democracy. It is about the people. Your primary responsibility has to be the welfare of the people. Anything short of that is a total failure.
“You cannot torture people in the name of governance. people are dying because of hardship.if You do that, you waste all the goodwill. The blind followers will follow you.
“We felt that if Buhari fails, it is the north that has failed.We feel the pains of Nigerians. As stated by him, even though president Obasanjo did not do better when he was in office, his message cannot be ignored.
“It is not because Obasanjo is better than Buhari but the message is Important. Obasanjo is the architect of what we have today. His words are important than him.
“I commend him for his courage. He should have stated that before now. The time Buhari should have performed he was complaining. So many people have spoken. Hali Na’Abba has spoken.They cannot all be Buhari’s enemies”, he stated.
Also reacting, the National President of Arewa Youths Forum, AYF, Alhaji Gambo Gujungu, told the newspaper that the forum had earlier urged Buhari not to contest the 2019 presidency owing to the fact that he was yet to fulfill his 2015 campaign promises to Nigerians.
As stated by him, the president’s prosecution of corrupt persons was lopsided, adding that the president cannot claim to be fighting corruption when his ‘cabals’ were allegedly enmeshed in the act.
He said, “Two weeks ago, we issued a statement warning him(Buhari) not to contest the 2019 general election because he is yet to fulfill his 2015 election campaign promises.
“We are also not in support of how he is fighting corruption in the country. Imagine what is going even within the so-called ‘cabals’ where issues bothering on corruption are dangling over their heads.
“We are in line with what former President Obasanjo stated. He (Buhari) should give way since he cannot fix the country and allow others with the capacity to do so come on board. Let him go home and rest in 2019.”