1 month ago
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The National President of the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (AYCF), Yerima Shettima, has submitted that the hunger in the North is part of why the people in the region actively participated in the #EndBadGovernance protest.
Naija News reports the protest in some northern states snowballed into violence, accompanied by a looting spree and destruction of properties.
Speaking on the development, Shettima told Vanguard in an interview that the north is worst hit by the hunger and economic hardship prevalent in the country.
He said insecurity has forced the people in the region to abandon their farms, and they are unable to receive palliative from the government, which in turn provoked the people to storm the streets rather than die silently.
He added that while some policies of the Bola Tinubu government caused more hardship, the problem started during the government of former president Muhammadu Buhari.
The ACYF president said the government needs to declare a state of emergency on insecurity in the north.
He said: “The North is the worst hit. Before the coming of this government, the North had been hit by hunger, which was caused by insecurity.
“The government should have worked with state governments to bring an end to insecurity and bring lasting solutions so that people could return to their farms, but it didn’t. In the North, all we have is farming, we don’t have crude oil.
“People cannot go to farms and do not receive any palliative from the state or the Federal Government.
“We only hear about palliative in the media. People came out to protest because their lives no longer have meaning. They became provoked and came out to the streets rather than dying silently.
“Naturally, we would have said this problem started from Tinubu, but the Buhari administration created the problem. However certain policies of the Tinubu administration increased the challenges. When you come up with policies, you provide palliative to cushion the effects. Nobody would have succeeded Buhari without removing the subsidy, but there should have been a palliative that would get to the people.
“Government should have declared a state of emergency on insecurity in the northern part of the country. We saw the efforts of people like Matawalle and a few others. The government should have followed suit. Unfortunately, appointees from the North are not talking. The only people talking are Ribadu and Matawalle.”
Shettima challenged the political appointees and National Assembly members from the region to speak up and defend their people.
“Where are appointees from the northern part of the country? Why can’t they come out and speak to their people? Where are those senators from the North? Why are they running to Abuja? Some have even left the country.
“Where are those House of Representatives members? They have all run away. Why are they not speaking to their people? Why are they not pleading with the people to remain calm?” he inquired.
On why the North was more active during the #EndBadGovernance protest and not the #EndSARS protest, Shettima said the people of the region are reacting to what is affecting them.
In his words, “EndSARS had to do with Yahoo Yahoo, otherwise known as fraudsters, people. Here in the North, we do not have Yahoo Yahoo people. What is happening in the North is hunger. People cannot feed, they can’t fend for themselves.
“Some cannot find one square meal to eat. Some of our people stay two days without eating. Our people should not be seen to be only useful during elections because of our numbers. When they get the power, they abandon the people and go back to Abuja and enjoy the national cake alone. It doesn’t make sense.
“You cannot just use them and dump them because you feel they are not important. No part of this country can survive without the North contributing. Today, we realise that if there are job opportunities, most of these political leaders give them to their cronies.
“Children of senators, children of governors and children of traditional rulers among others are people they give jobs. Children of the poor who are even more qualified are denied opportunities. Where is the job for the common man?
“It shouldn’t be so. When there are appointments, they look for the son of a former governor or a former minister. It shouldn’t be so. If we continue to go along that route, one day we will fall into a revolution. God forbid.”
English (US) ·