Stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the aegis of the Northern Young Professionals for Tinubu & Shattima have implored Nigerians to be wary of Northern Elders Consultative Forum and the Christian leaders in the North, saying they are politicians who are out to serve their own selfish and personal interests.
It said former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and other members of the forum were on a self-serving mission when they formally adopted the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, as their candidate for the 2023 general election.
The Dogara-led Christian leaders had on Friday adopted Atiku as their presidential candidate, saying the decision followed the resolve of the northern Christian leaders to work with their Muslim counterparts to adopt one of the presidential candidates in a bid to defeat the same-faith presidential ticket of the APC.
But addressing a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, the Young Northern Professionals reminded the Christian leaders that it was the corruption under the PDP 16-year misrule that subjected Nigerians to untold hardship.
National coordinator of the APC group, Abdullahi Tanko Yakasai, and national secretary, Muhammad Waziri, told journalists at the press conference that though they are not afraid of the endorsement of Atiku by the Christian politicians, it was appropriate to set the record straight.
Accusing Dogara and others of pursuing their selfish interest, Yakasai said, “All these things Dogara and his group are doing is to serve their selfish interest. Dogara has been part of this movement before the emergence of Asiwaju as the APC presidential candidate. What changed? That is the question people should be asking. Dogara has been in the House of Representatives all this while and he knows that Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila and his deputy are both Muslims.
“Why hasn’t he raised an eyebrow over that Muslim-Muslim ticket in the House? It is just their self-serving interest and selfish agenda because they have not been picked as vice presidential candidates.”
“Our group, NYPT, wishes to state categorically that the group is on a self-serving mission. One wonders how they castigated our party APC by-saying the party is in crisis and hasn’t done enough for the country since it took over in 2015. They also predicted that the party would be dead after the 2023 elections.
“Or have they forgotten that towards the build up to the 23 elections, it’s the party of their endorsed candidate, PDP, that is in a deep crisis, especially with the G5 governors who have categorically said they would not participate in their presidential campaign?”
On issues of insecurity raised by the Christian northern leaders, Yakasai said, “The insecurity which they claimed APC could not tackle, one wonders how they have forgotten that it was the APC government that brought back areas where Boko Haram had captured and hoisted flags in the North East during PDP government.
“It is also on record that Bombs that used to be detonated by Boko Haram during PDP are no more as the terrorist group has been decimated and subdued.”
On the economy, the APC young northern professionals said, “We need to remind Dogara and his group that the corruption under PDP was what has put Nigeria in the economic hardship which has drastically reduced after the introduction of the Single Treasury Account by the President Muhammadu Buhari APC-led government. These are facts that the blind can see and attest to.
“Talking about Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC Presidential Candidate and his running mate, one would have thought with the capacity of Dogara and his co-hosts, they ought to have gone beyond religious sentiments and look out rather for the capacity of candidates.”
Yakasai added that the thoughts of Dogara and others were for Tinubu to have emerged so that either of them would automatically be chosen as the vice presidential candidate, being the northern most prominent Christians in the inner caucus of Tinubu’s camp.
He continued: “It was obvious that their rantings and rage was simply because Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not consider any of them and decided to choose Distinguished Senator Kashim Shattima who’s a Muslim based on his capacity, competence, honesty and sincerity of purpose.
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