The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has cautioned that the patience of the youth must not be tested further with the refusal to confirm the nomination of immediate past Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai for appointment as a minister.
This comes as the coalition of Qur’anic memorisers and reciters has commended the Senate for refusing to confirm former Kaduna state governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai as minister and urged them not to clear him in the interest of justice, fairness, peace and stability of the country.
Recall that the Senate late Monday evening confirmed 45 ministerial nominees out of 48 forwarded to it for confirmation by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Three of the nominees who were not not confirmed are Nasir El-Rufai from Kaduna, Stella Okotete from Delta State and Abubakar Sani Danladi from Taraba State over security concerns.
A statement by the AYCF national president, Alhaji Yerima Shettima said, the Youth and indeed northern Nigeria felt humiliated by the news that out of the 48 names submitted to the Senate by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, el-Rufai is among the only three whose confirmations were differed.
“We regret to note that the targeting of Nasir El-Rufai for such irreverent treatment is part of a wider agenda being pursued by certain dubious political interests to deny the north and the younger generation of Nigerians fair representation in the Tinubu’s cabinet.
“It is suspicious that El-Rufai, who is among the best, if not the best of all the names submitted by the President should be among the only three that could not be confirmed without justifiable reasons.
“We consider it deceptive for the Senate to give security checks as reason for not confirming El-Rufai because it is common knowledge that the ministerial nomination list passed through security scrutiny before getting to the Senate.
“At the risk of overstating the case, we can boldly say that El-Rufai, Hannatu Musawa, Bello Matawalle and Festus Keyamo are by far the best representation of the young generation of Nigerians included in the list.
“It will therefore amount to unwarranted provocation to Kaduna State, to the North and to the Nigerian youth for El-Rufai not to be confirmed for flimsy considerations,” Shettima said.
Speaking with journalists yesterday on behalf of the coalition in Bauchi an Islamic Scholar Sheikh Sidi Aliyu Sise Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi said, “If El-Rufai was screened and confirmed by the National Assembly it will be injustice to Qur’anic memorisers and reciters.
“Even if National Assembly confirmed him, we call on the Mr President, as Nigerian leader, he should look in to the country with the eyes of justice, he should look in to the plight of the oppressed, not to succumb to pressure to swear in El-rufa’i a man who oppressed Almajirai under his leadership when he was a governor.
“We demand for justice as a result of injustice, harassment, trauma and difficulties encountered by our disciples, teachers and many Qur’anic Scholars, when he evacuated our innocent pupils from the House of Maulana Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi in Kaduna to an unknown destination. We want to know our offence, we demand for justice from the federal government,” Ali said.
The scholar said, “Swearing in Elrufa’i as minister we will take it as if you are in support of the injustice we suffered in his hand when he was a Governor of Kaduna.”
He maintained that President Tinubu should tread with caution and not to swear in unjust politicians with questionable character into his cabinet, now that el-Rufai is out of office, we demand for justice rather than for the government to contemplate making him a minister.
Sayyadi said, “Any government that prides itself on carrying all along with justice and fairness should not be seen to patronize the likes of the former governor of Kaduna State.
“We hope that President Tinubu will come out clean on the El-Rufai issue, by ensuring justice to the people he oppressed when he was a Governor, at that time he has immunity, and we don’t want to heat the tension in the interest of peace considering the large followers of Maulana Sheikh.”
Sheikh Sidi Ali asked Muslims Governors to renovate the 100 Tsangaya Model Schools built by former President Goodluck Jonathan in Northern Nigeria and handed them back to Qur’anic clerics in their states, because according to him states failed to manage the schools properly.
Sayyadi added that, “The Schools are now in deplorable conditions, the structures were deplorable, since the government can’t maintain the schools, they should renovate it and hand them back to their owners, whom the schools were built because of them to learn the Quran and western education.”
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