Arewa Coalition Accuses President Tinubu Of Persecuting Northern Leaders

By Ayodele Oni

A Coalition of Arewa community in the South West has accused President Bola Tinubu of the persecution of prominent Northern political leaders.

The Coalition spoke in Ibadan,Oyo state capital on Wednesday through Alhaji Shehu Idris, Vice Chairman, Arewa Consultative Forum and Women Leader,Aisha Ismail.

The coalition stated that “The information reaching us on a daily basis is alarming. Our people in the various States in the North are mostly of the view that this Government is working to suppress the North.

“Amongst other things they seem to be suppressing our leaders as stated above, and are also subverting the will of the majority of the Northern Electorate.

“This is clear from the election cases in Plateau, Zamfara, and Kano. As we all know, these three states are volatile states! The perceived daylight robbery and truncation of the will of the people through the courts might not be accepted by the people.

“There is, unfortunately, a feeling by our people that this is all being caused by the inordinate 2nd term ambition of President Bola Tinubu who hasn’t even settled into his first term! Anti Yoruba sentiments are growing in the North for this reason.

“Our independent minded leaders in the North are being dealt with “politically” by this government. All ahead of 2027 even before the end of 2023!!

“Former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufa’i who worked on his colleagues in the North to sway victory for President Tinubu was disgraced and in a “game” played by the government, his nomination was rejected by the Senate during the confirmation process, allegedly on spurious claims of not scaling security screening.

“Sen. Danjuma Goje, Senator Abdulazeez Yari and others have also suffered politically in one way or the other. Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso is also under attack and fighting for the survival of Kano State.

As our counterparts in Kano, the Yoruba community have cried out last week through a press conference, the growing political tension in Kano is alarming, and it needs to be swiftly addressed by Mr. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu through non-interference into the matters of the judiciary as an independent arm of government.

“Finally, we are told that ” Law is Social Engineering”. We trust that the Supreme Court, a co-equal arm of government, will redeem the image of the Judiciary and not allow it’s institution to be used by a recklessly power hungry arm of government to ignite Nigeria!”

The coalition also condemned the hardship being faced by Nigerians, ocassioned by the harsh economic policies of the present administration.

“We are all witnesses to the economic and political difficulties being faced by the citizens of our country especially those in the Northern part of the country.

“INEC failed to deliver free, fair and transparent elections and this is made evident by the cases in our electoral Tribunals and appellate courts after the 2023 elections.

“The economy is bad. The Naira has lost value. Food is more expensive and Unemployment is very high. All these have led to higher costs of feeding, education, health, accommodation and transportation.

“Yet the APC Federal Government is still borrowing and spending so much money on unnecessary travel, renovation of buildings and cost of governance. These people do not care about the “common man” of Nigeria.”